Elemental Girls Book 2 - Fury of Inferno
by RocketRaccoon4ever
Summary: Things are heating up as Alexi unleashes her fury upon Xandar and the Guardians of the Galaxy! Now it's a chase across the cosmos to capture the fire spirit and find out just what made her blow. Meanwhile Nebula, Hijinx, Titanium, and some new elements are going after the Reality Stone which is still on Earth.
1. Prologue

**Prologue  
** _Hijinx's Planet, 22 Years Ago_

A young scientist, today being his first day on the job, hurried down the hallway. His superior had ordered him to his office and the scientist didn't want to upset his boss on the first day. He opened the door to the office and stood attentively in front of his bosses desk. His boss wasn't of the scientists people, a species that had run this planet for millennia, he was Shi'ar, come to help build an empire.

"My dear boy." The Shi'ar greeted him. "I am aware that today is your first day here at my great lab." The scientist nodded in agreement. "I see a spark in you kid, a knowledge that will fill this place with more power sources than my men can imagine." The scientist smiled with pride at the compliment. The Shi'ar motioned for him to follow as they went through a heavily vaulted door behind his desk. "The places and things you about to see may shock you." The Shi'ar warned as the door opened. "I trust you to hold it together." The scientist steeled himself for what he might see as the bright rooms behind the door were in view.

The two wandered down the hall past cages of aliens from all races and corners of the universe. Some were young, others old, others in between. They were differently sized, with different colors for hair, eyes, and skin. Some shouted in languages that the scientist couldn't comprehend but some he understood thanks to schooling he had taken for other worldly ways of speech. "Let us out! Why are you doing this? Monsters! Are we being arrested? What did we do! I will sue for this! Where's my daughter? What did you do with my daughter? I want my Mom! Where are you taking us? Are we being killed? What are you doing? This is illegal and immoral!" Those were just some of the curses that the scientist heard spit in his direction as him and the Shi'ar made it down the hall to a glass room with the title **Lab A.5** over the entrance.

The door opened and the scientist was greeted with the sight of other scientists who were poised over a glass container, multiple glass containers to be exact. Inside each one was an element. One was filled with water, splashing violently against the sides. Another was clear, but it shook with the force of a powerful wind storm. Another one held a scorching fire that burned violently. The final one was a pile of dirt with small vines reaching out of it and crawling along the sides.

"What is this?" The scientist asked.

"This is the future." His boss answered. "These are the four elements of life, and those people out there are our test subjects. We are attempting to turn these elements into full fledged creatures with thoughts and feelings, then insert them into a race that can control them. We will create creatures that are held captive by the power of their element and have an unstoppable army of elemental warriors to take over whatever planet we please." The Shi'ar motioned to the fuming elements. "Right now they are moody because we haven't fit them with the proper personality."

"Elements can have personalities?" The scientist asked.

"The Shi'ar laughed. "Oh course! Anything can have a personality if you let it!" He explained. First he motioned to water. "This one will be calm, gentle, and quiet." Next he pointed at wind. "This one will be witty, sassy, and quick on the draw." Then to land. "This one will be sweet, kind, and a natural at showing love." Finally he pointed at fire. "And this one, oh this one will be special. This one will be the terror that keeps you up at night. The one that haunts your every thought. Evil, cruel, disobedient, and angry." The Shi'ar smiled at the scientist. "Who isn't scared of fire my boy, tell me."

The scientist shook his head in disbelief. This was crazy! Elements being infused into other people just to create an army? It was so genius why hadn't he thought of it? "What do you want me to do with this information you have given me sir?" He asked politely.

"I want you to lead the project. Tell no one, and create my army to rule the galaxy." The scientist nodded, amazed by the opportunity before him. "Do you accept the offer?" The Shi'ar inquired.

"Yes sir!" The scientist exclaimed. "I do accept!" The Shi'ar clapped his hands with glee.

"Excellent!" He motioned to another scientist to grab him something. Then the Shi'ar presented the scientist with his own pin, his name carved on a small silver plate to be pinned to his lab coat. It would represent his standing as head of the project.

"Thank you sir." The scientist breathed as he removed the bronze pin he currently wore and replaced it with the silver one. The Shi'ar shook his hand and then departed, leaving the scientists with his new team and four elements.

"What is your first order of business?" One of the other scientists asked him expectantly.

"First we get these elements their personalities. Then we figure out how to control them." The scientists scurried around getting to work on his orders. "Today is a great day." The scientist smiled. "Today is the day the I became great!"

As the scientists commenced their work long into the night not a single one tired. Everyone was obsessed with making this project work, the sounds of the lab rats their background noise, and the fluorescent lighting only slightly hurting their eyes. It mostly hurt when it reflected off the silver surface of their scientist in command's name tag. The bright silver momentarily blinded the young scientist but he knew he would get used to it eventually.

 _It'll all be worth it._ He thought giddily. _Worth so much when my elements take over the galaxy, and all the people cheer my name. Oh how I can hear them now just roaring with joy._ The scientist smiled. _You were born for this Hijinx. You were born for this_.


	2. Beings Of The Universe

**Beings Of The Universe**

Hijinx breathed a sigh of relief as his ship touched base on his homeworld. It was a desolate place full of craters and sand and an overbearing sun but it was still his home. Nebula stepped out behind him and wrinkled her nose in disgust at the place. "So this is where you grew up? Explains a lot about you." Hijinx just laughed and proceeded down the ramp to the dusty soil below.

"Laugh all you want Daughter of Thanos, but this planet is home to the most amazing minds in the dimension. The last of my people work here, all of us preparing for war with our armored war machines." Hijinx motioned to a large building in the distance. Nebula strained her eyes against the bright sun to see it clearer but it was no use. The sun reflected off the surface of the building and made it nearly impossible to see anything other than its twisted rectangular outline.

Nebula grimaced as her eyes stung with the effort and gave up, looking back at the ship as Titanium emerged. Thanos had ordered Nebula along on this journey to keep an eye on Hijinx and Titanium. Nebula couldn't blame him for being suspicious about these two. After all, she was working with Hijinx and she still didn't know close to 5% of his plan. Little as Nebula wanted to admit it, not only did Hijinx and his crazed maniac mind make her wary of trusting him, she was deathly afraid of Titanium. Nebula had watched that girl's training sessions with others training under Thanos, and she was stronger, faster, more vicious, more heartless, and more everything than they were.

"It's about time he got here." Hijinx muttered. Nebula watched as a small black dot in the distance got larger and larger. Soon enough a black shape appeared in front of her, hovering at least 3 feet off the ground. Jets stuck out the backside and it looked like a cross between a rocket, a hoverboard, and those cars that Terrans used. "This is my latest design," Hijinx announced. "I call it The Hovercar. It is designed to move efficiently over any terrain, because it never touches the ground!" He smiled with joy. "My precious little machine here can take you anywhere and is nearly indestructible!"

"Nearly?" Nebula questioned. "What could destroy it?"

"The one thing that can destroy anything." Hijinx replied. "An Infinity Stone. That's it, anything else and this baby will only get a few dents in its side." Hijinx patted the Hovercar and then rapped on the tinted window. The door to the side opened upwards, almost like someone was peeling it off, and Hijinx motioned for Nebula and Titanium to get in. "Ladies first." He crowed with a smile.

Nebula rolled her eyes and examined the interior of the car. It was completely covered in some kind of fur, floor to ceiling, and the tint of the windows made the outside only slightly less bright. The seats were soft and elegant and small lights on the walls gave off a dull glow. Nebula couldn't see who was driving which got her annoyed but the annoyance was quickly replaced with alertness as Titanium chose to sit next to her instead of across. Nebula moved as far into the wall as possible but only managed to put about 2 inches of space in between them.

Hijinx climbed in and the door closed softly. Then they were moving. The landscape rushed by as the Hovercar sped off at what Nebula could only guess to be nearly 70 miles per hour. "At this rate we'll reach that base of yours in under 3 minutes." Nebula noted. Titanium barked out a laugh.

"Stupid girl." She hissed. "We'll reach the lab in about 10 minutes. It's nearly halfway across the planet you know." Nebula was shocked by Titanium's tone, nobody spoke to a Daughter of Thanos that way!

"Well glad to know they've built calculators into the scrap metal around here." She snapped back.

"What, Thanos didn't think to do that up on Sanctuary?" Titanium smirked as Nebula's rage boiled over.

"Why you little-" Nebula's hand went to her belt to grab her electric katanas when all of a sudden a metal spike stabbed through her wrist. Nebula winced in pain as the spike stuck itself into the wall. Titanium just sat back in her seat as she watched Nebula struggle to detach her hand to get rid of the spike. Titanium's aim never failed though and Nebula's hand was trapped, the spike having punctured through the detachable section.

Hijinx had remained calm this whole time, his scientist eyes just observing what was happening. Now he waved his hand at Titanium. "Release the Daughter of Thanos. I think you have demonstrated your abilities enough Titanium." Obliging his command the spike was removed from Nebula's wrist and returned to its position on Titanium's shoulder. Nebula rubbed her wrist as she inspected to see if Titanium had damaged anything.

"You know you can call me Nebula, right?" Nebula asked. "This isn't some formal meeting we're having, it's war we're preparing for." When Hijinx didn't respond Nebula continued. "After Ronan betrayed Thanos I thought he'd be less inclined to trust me, and even less inclined to trust you. I mean c'mon, you show up out of nowhere promising warriors of untold power right after Thanos lost his shot at getting the Power Stone, that's cause for some suspicion. When Thanos took you on instantly, and welcomed me back almost without a second thought, I figured he was going crazy. He's not of course, the Mad Titan has always been crazy. He's displaying signs of weakness, and I'm not even sure he knows it yet. His trust issues are the farthest thoughts in his mind from his main goal, getting to those Infinity Stones. I'm not telling you this so that way you can further your little plot behind my back, I'm telling you this because I know something about the Reality Stone." The moment the name left her mouth Hijinx perked up.

"Really? Cause if you do that would be delightful!" His voice became anxious and he leaned in closer, as though she was about to share some grand secret. Titanium even seemed to be paying closer attention.

"You already know that I have the ability to see into the foremost regions of the unguarded mind. This means I can sense only prominent thoughts. I've done it before but usually only for Ronan when he needs information out of a living being. Thanos never was one for mind games. I read the mind of Tsunami when we had both her and Inferno captured. I know that the Reality Stone is on Terra."

"Of course!" Hijinx cried out. "How could I be so stupid?" His eyes were lit up with glee. "The only way the Reality Stone could've gotten those three elements to their hosts is if it went to Terra!" Hijinx clapped his hands as the Hovercar pulled up to the lab. Hijinx jumped out and started talking into a com unit about the stone as Nebula marveled at the sheer size of the place in front of her.

The lab was so tall it nearly touched the sky and it had one whole side made entirely of windows. Nebula noticed that the window side was nothing but dorm rooms. Some were empty, others had people in lab coats mulling around. Some it looked like people were sleeping and one she noticed had a young Terran girl sitting in the bed, just staring out the window.

Nebula pointed at the girl. "Whose that?" She asked Titanium. "She doesn't look like a scientist." Titanium scoffed.

"Yeah, that's cause she's not. That there is the host body for Black Hole, the cosmic element. She's going to be the most powerful one of all of us."

"Why is the host a Terran though?" Nebula questioned "Wouldn't a more powerful species make sense?"

"We're ALL Terran's." Titanium responded bitterly. "Terran's are the only species without a power code in their DNA. That makes them the easiest ones to harbor the elemental spirits." Titanium pointed at the girl who was now pacing around the room. "She was recently captured, about a week ago I think. They are perfecting her element and should begin the fusion within a few days."

Nebula cocked her head. "Fusion?" She questioned.

"That's how the elements are inserted into the host." Titanium explained only slightly annoyed. "That's why we can't transform between Terran and element, our bodies are one together. That's why I have human skin but metallic plates, I'm a combination of two bodies." Titanium's tone turned dark. "It is also the reason why Inferno, Tsunami, and Tornado can change their form between fully Terran and fully element."

Nebula understood. She had seen first hand the power of the elementals on Sanctuary 3 months ago. She had also noted that as full elements the girls had more capabilities than the fused ones. Not that Nebula would say that to Titanium or Hijinx's face. Same as earlier, Nebula was still petrified of Titanium, and if this girl was one of the weaker ones in this lab then Nebula had more than one reason to be scared.

"C'mon Daughter of Thanos." Titanium called from the entryway, venom lacing her words. "Don't fall behind or they might think you're an escaped subject." Nebula growled as Titanium strutted off into the building. If this plan didn't work, Nebula was personally going to suggest the most painful way for Titanium to die.

Nebula entered the building and followed the form of Titanium through the crowd of lab coats. It wasn't hard, the crowd almost parted away from Titanium, everyone eyeing her spikes. Nebula was amazed that the very people who built this creature could fear her. Then again Nebula had never considered herself able to be scared or intimidated by another being but here she was.

It wasn't until Nebula ran into Titanium did she realize that there was one person that hadn't moved out of the way in fear. She was covered in golden armored clothing, and wore a gold mask shaped like bird wings. She had knee high boots, shorts, and a crop top that stopped at her ribs revealing her tough abs. Carved into her arms were two lightning bolts. The girl stood only to Nebula's shoulder, putting her at about 5' 11, making her just the right height to stare Titanium in her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" The girl hissed at Titanium. "I thought you said that you could handle being the representative of our lab, instead you screw everything up!" Titanium flinched backwards and seemed to cower down and away from the girl. "You're lucky I don't fry you right this instant." The girl hissed as she pushed Titanium backwards harshly. Nebula stepped out of the way of the two, still unnoticed by the other elemental. The golden girl threw a piece of metal at Titanium. "I thought we told you to keep your mask on at all times." Then the girl turned and walked off, her shoulder length gold hair rising up with static.

Nebula watched as Titanium placed the metal covering on her face. It was a plate that covered her one eye, the top of her cheek, and half of her nose. There was a milky white colored orb over where her eye would be, Nebula guessed that was for sight. The mask didn't hide Titanium's features as much as the mask the gold girl had worn but it did make her look all the more frightening.

"Who was that?" Nebula asked.

"That was my forced ally." Titanium responded bitterly. "Her name is Electrical Storm, and she controls lightning and all the works of electricity." She turned to face Nebula. "I'm her ally because she powers up my metal with her electric surges. We don't like each other very much though."

"Why? What could she have possible done to make you dislike her so? It's a lab, shouldn't you all bond over being experiments?" Nebula asked Titanium her questions rapid fire.

"We don't like each other because we're sisters." Titanium answered. Then she turned to Nebula. "Tell me honestly one person you know who has a good relationship with their sister." Nebula's thoughts jumped instantly to Gamora, her own sister who she hated with a passion. "Thought so." Titanium whispered. Then they both continued down the hallway to the stairs that would take them up and up to Hijinx's office. It was a silent walk between them, the bustling sounds of the people around them providing comfort that didn't make their silence awkward.

When they reached the stairs and left the noise behind them Nebula spoke. "I hate my sister too." Titanium acknowledged her with a nod of the head and both of them, now in a mutual understanding over their own messed up family, went the rest of the way in silence.


	3. Teacher Peter

**Teacher Peter**

The Guardians of the Galaxy sat around a circular table with Nova Prime, Denarian Dey, and some other higher ranking Novacore officers inside Nova headquarters on Xandar. A small hologram was acting as a video recorder for the room Alexi, Courtney, and Harmony were staying in. The three Terrans were oblivious to the fact that they were being watched and were having normal conversation about the latest arrangements made, arrangements the Guardians were going to discuss with Nova Prime now.

"I highly doubt that adding them to the training cycle is a good idea, Nova Prime." One of the officers commented.

"I agree, it will disrupt the harmony of the other trainees." Added another.

"The other soldiers here already are unfriendly to the elementals, maybe them joining in on the training would be beneficial." Dey butted in. "After all, they'll need to learn to use their powers some how."

One of the officers banged his fist on the table. "We already saw what they can do on Sanctuary!" He pointed at the girls in question who were having a whispered conversation. "They are not only freaks of nature, they are a menace to the Universe! They must be eliminated at once!" Some other officers nodded their agreement.

"C'mon guys!" Peter jumped in. Gamora hung her head as she had been kicking Peter in an attempt to keep him quiet. "They've been here long enough without major incident and the people of Xandar love them! They haven't broken any laws and they're even starting to pick up the language." Peter glanced at the recorder again and motioned for the officers to observe the girls as well.

Alexi was laying across her bed, sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Peter could see the tips of old bruises on the top of her arm and scars crisscrossing her lower arms. Courtney was yanking and tugging on her bandanna then just gave up and untwisted it, revealing her bald head as she readjusted the cover-up. Harmony was brushing her hair and fiddling with a small heart locket around her neck that she had worn since she left Terra. According to Drax, Harmony's 'house' was an abandoned shack. She lived alone, but once she had lived with her family. Peter had seen the pictures in Courtney's basement and he had heard Rocket talk about Alexi's 'family'.

"They've already proven to be warriors." Peter continued. "Alexi's gone through hell and back with that abusive family of hers, Courtney's fighting for her life with her cancer, and Harmony lost her family to some sort of accident. If they can go through that and come out on top then I think that they can get through Novacore training." The officers quietly stared at Peter as though he was no more than an ant that had crawled into the room.

"Mr. Quill is correct." Nova Prime spoke. "The elementals will train alone in the next three days, afterwards they will begin training with the other recruits." Then Nova Prime smiled at Peter and the rest of the Guardians. "I trust that you all will be capable of handling their training sessions.

Peter blanched with shock, he didn't want to be a trainer! Before Peter could politely decline Drax butted in. "We would be honored to train such fine warriors." Peter wanted to blast Drax through the wall.

"Great!" Nova Prime exclaimed, much to the disappointment of the other members there. "You can begin today. By the end of the week I want them to begin training with the other trainees here." With that final decree everyone left the room.

"Thanks Drax, I'm thrilled to be teaching a subject I know nothing about." Peter remarked.

Drax smiled. "You are very welcome Quill. Battle techniques are my best strength. If you feel inadequate to teach then I would be more than happy to do double a shift."

Peter rolled his eyes. "One, sarcasm. Two, nah I got this. I mean c'mon how hard can it be to train a few elements."

* * *

 **2 Days Later**

Peter Quill could ultimately say that this was the most trouble he had ever gotten himself into. Here he was pinned to a wall, his armor discarded away, his weapons out of reach, and one flaming fire element moving closer. Alexi's flames kissed the tips of his boots and he felt the searing heat seem to weld his clothes to his skin. Her eyes were deathly yellow and seemed to rage with the fury of a thousand supernovas. Her hair was wildly sizzling, fire tendons reaching up as the never ending supply of oxygen from Harmony over across the room fueled her even more. Peter was starting to realize that agreeing to help train the elementals was a insanely stupid idea. He'd expected to be a teacher not a candlestick!

"Okay Nova Prime I, I think we're done here!" Peter shouted. He prayed that Nova Prime was still by the com unit, or even anybody was by the com unit. Otherwise the soundproof training area would be the only thing that heard his cries. Sure, Harmony might stop feeding Alexi energy because Harmony was kind but Alexi had been told not to take it easy on him, and she was enjoying doing just that a little too much. Peter was internally cursing Nova Prime for not allowing Courtney in there with them, she would have been helpful at this point.

Just as Peter felt Alexi's flames reach his face a bell sounded from up above. Alexi glanced up as Nova Prime's voice came through the com. "That'll be enough for today Alexi." Peter breathed a sigh of relief as the fire sprite stepped back and slowly her flames dispersed. With a light puff of smoke, almost like when you extinguished a candle, Alexi turned back into her normal punk Terran self. Complete with a Nova Core uniform of course. Despite the pleas of some higher ranking officers Alexi, Harmony, and Courtney had been dubbed Nova Core in training. It had been seen as not only a disgrace to the Nova Core title but their Terran heritage made them the instant underdogs among the other trainees.

Peter heard footsteps approach him and opened his eyes from when he had closed them. The painful blisters stinging his eyelids made his whole body ache at the motion of keeping them open. The footsteps approaching him belonged to the wind sprite Harmony. Known around the Nova office as the "girl with the voice of a banshee" it was less that the other trainees didn't like her and more that they were scared of her. Why they weren't scared of Alexi's ever raging volcanic fire or Courtney's tidal force waves was beyond him. Xandarians and their culture just plain confused him.

"You okay Quill?" Harmony asked, her voice hoarse from countless screeching exercises. She hadn't yet been able to recreate the scream that had incapacitated Titanium on Sanctuary but that didn't make her other screams any less terrifying. Any one of them could leave you with headaches or even deafness for a number of minutes. As far as non killing techniques went, Harmony's were the best by a long shot. Alexi hadn't yet mastered the art of not killing with her fire and Courtney more or less threw people or left them gasping for breath briefly. Either way, Nova Prime had already dubbed them as different power handles. Alexi was the muscle of the group, Harmony the spy, and Courtney the diplomat.

Peter struggled to his feet, tears in his eyes from the pain in his nearly flambe`d muscles. "Yep, 100% okay." He groaned in agony. Harmony shook her head.

"You males and your pride." She turned her back and followed Alexi out of the training room. "I was going to offer advice on how to help with those blisters but if you aren't that hurt..." Harmony let the sentence trail off as she stood near the door. Peter didn't even bother to consider what she had in mind before he was stumbling forwards calling for her to wait. Harmony just smiled and took Peters arm to support him as they both stumbled out of the room. The girls had gotten pretty used to their time here at Nova Headquarters, and on Xandar in general. They had taken to the planet and its customs much faster than Peter had when he first saw it. It had only been three months since the battle at Sanctuary and already they had settled in among the Xandarians.

As Harmony led Peter to the infirmary Nova Prime stepped towards them from the room that overlooked the training area. "Mr. Quill, what is your evaluation on Alexi's heat abilities?" Alexi turned around from where she was going back to her shared room with Courtney and Harmony to hear what Peter had to say. Peter searched through his heat lashed mind trying to come up with an answer.

"Can you simplify the question?" He asked.

Nova Prime rolled her eyes. "How well will she perform in battle?" She asked with a little more exasperation in her voice.

"Oh!" Peter cried with understanding. "Yeah, she's, well, she packs a punch with that flame." No one laughed. "That was a stupid joke." Peter mumbled. "Well she has a long reach for her powers I guess, I mean my skin was being seared off when she was halfway across the room. Then again I think that was only when Harmony was feeding her oxygen from her wind power. Overall I'd say her heat was at a fairly high temperature but it only incapacitated you when she was right up in your face or Harmony gave her power. She also seems unable to regulate how hot or dull her flames are, I think only Courtney or Harmony could regulate that based on how she operates under their powers." Peter finished rambling off every thought on his mind and looked at Nova Prime to see how he had done.

"So you're saying that Alexi's power can only be useful and contained when under the influence of the others' powers?" Nova Prime asked.

"No, wait that's not-" Peter went to interject but Nova Prime was already walking down the hall talking into her com about Peter's observations. Peter turned around and was staring face to face with Alexi.

"You think I can't control my power!" She screamed. Peter flinched back but he knew Alexi's power wouldn't flare up. Each girl had a trigger on their power. Alexi's was fear, Harmony's was anger, and Courtney's was hatred. Those triggers were the only things that held the girls back in training, they couldn't bring those emotions on because they were emotions the girls had trained themselves for years to ignore. Still, Peter could never be sure what would cause Alexi to be scared.

"I didn't mean it like that." Peter tried to calm Alexi down. "I was just saying that usually your power work best when under the influence of another power." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as Alexi turned around and walked off, hands balled up into fists.

"C'mon Alexi, it's not the end of the world if you get a bad grade on your training." Harmony tried to reason with her. Alexi whirled around, the tips of her hair starting to smoke.

"But it could be! Have you ever considered the end of that prophecy thing that stupid stone spat out? We're supposed to save the entire universe from something unheard of before and you don't think I need optimum power to do that? We all need to be at our best in order to fight, and if that stupid Nova person doesn't think I'm capable of fighting without some babysitters than I won't get to fight!" Alexi's tone turned dark. "And I want to make the people who did this to us suffer for an eternity." Alexi turned around and stormed off to her room. "I'll show you all!" She howled. "I'll show you just what Inferno can do!"

Alexi stomped off to her room, fists at her side and hair flaming. Peter was going to try to make amends when an announcement came over the intercom. _Will the Guardians of the Galaxy, Inferno, Tsunami, and Tornado please come to Nova Prime's office immediately._

"I hate when they call us by our element names instead of our real ones." Harmony muttered as her and Peter started towards Nova Prime's office. Alexi looked like she wanted to follow them but then turned and opted to go the opposite way. Peter sighed and made a mental note to apologize later. When the two arrived at the office most of the others were there, minus Alexi, Rocket, and Groot.

"Are you okay?" Gamora asked Peter upon seeing him lean on Harmony. He nodded and noticed that Gamora's hair was damp.

"Were you in the shower or something?" He asked. She shook her head and pointed to Courtney who was standing silently in the corner.

"I got water sprite training." She smiled. "I almost pity you for getting wind sprite." Peter shook his head.

"No, I was training Alexi. Today we were working with Harmony because she upgrades her power." Peter looked up as Alexi entered with Rocket and Groot. "She's mad at me now." He whispered to Gamora.

"Mad? Oh no, she's pissed at you bro." Harmony replied. Peter shot her a look. Gamora raised her eyebrow for Harmony to continue. "He told Nova Prime that Alexi can't use her power right without me or Courtney there to regulate it."

Gamora smacked Peter across the arm. "You fool!" She hissed. "Alexi is perfectly capable of wiping out an entire armada without the help of another element!" Peter winced as she hit him again.

"Well I'm sorry! It was a little misunderstanding so I'm going to patch things up later." Gamora crossed her arms. "I'll make it up to her after the meeting okay." Peter held up his right hand "I promise." Gamora smiled lightly and went to take a seat as Nova Prime entered the room.

"Okay I know that the Guardians have been training you three very hard in the past few days." Nova Prime spoke to the elementals. "So that's why I'm sending you guys on this mission." The three girls perked up at the mention of a mission. Nova Prime turned to the Guardians. "There has been confirmed reports that all the excitement on Terra has calmed down, so it is time to-"

"What excitement?" Peter interrupted. "What happened." The others all had equally confused expressions.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Nova Prime asked. "The Terrans found you ship and the Infinity Stone. Luckily they couldn't open the unit it was enclosed in so it is safe from their touch. Anyway, they have finally stopped crowding your ship and the orb as a main news story so you have the perfect opportunity to go back down and bring the orb back."

"We're doing what!" They all exclaimed.

Nova Prime smiled. "Suit up everyone. You're taking a trip to Terra."


	4. In Charge

**In Charge**

"I object to this!" Electrical Storm bashed her fist onto the table with fury. The lightning bolts on her arms glowed as static raised her hair up. Nebula sat next to a quiet Titanium and watched as Electrical Storm continued to yell at Hijinx who was seated at the top of the table. Next to him was the final finished element, Earthquake. She was the tallest and the most buff out of them all, nearly 6 ft 5 and with muscles to rival Drax. Her hair was green and long, small flowers around the crown of her head. Her skin was the color of soil with green splotches and she wore an average jumpsuit and belt. The jumpsuit was made of dark green vines and the belt was black wood. She wore a mask as well, it started at her forehead with jagged wooden spikes and went to the top of her cheeks, small leaves decorating the edges. She was utterly silent, staring at her hands the whole time as thought they were the most interesting thing in the Universe.

"Nebula." Hijinx voice snapped Nebula out of her observing and brought her attention back to the matter at hand.

"Yes?" She asked.

"You were the one who heard Tsunami's thoughts, tell me what the odds are that she could've been lying." Hijinx asked. Electrical Storm leaned towards Nebula, her true emotion hidden behind the light gold sheen over the eye holes of her mask.

"I believe her to have been telling the truth." Nebula replied. "Her friend was being tortured and she claimed to know the stones whereabouts, I doubt she would have lied."

Electrical Storm scoffed. "We're basing all of this on a hunch?" She pointed her finger accusingly at Nebula. "You are the one lying." She whirled on Hijinx. "It was foolish of you to go after Thanos at such a precarious time like this! We are being forced to temporarily abandon the project that will create the greatest cosmic force ever seen and you decide now is the time to play chicken with The Mad Titan!"

Hijinx didn't smile, that was what scared Nebula the most. Hijinx always smiled. "I do believe that that is classified information you are spouting. Information that you should not have access to." Hijinx stood up from his chair and faced Electrical Storm head on. "I'd like to believe that one of my scientists let something slip or you heard something while in surgery. Sadly, I know that you are a sneak and still retain hacker knowledge from your previous life, so you see my dilemma in wondering how you came upon this information."

Electrical Storm tried to back away from Hijinx, her fear plainly displayed in the shaking of her hands. Hijinx swiped his hand out suddenly and locked it around her arm, dragging Electrical Storm nearly on top of the table. "How do you know about the malfunction." he hissed. The purpose of him being so quiet was so that only Electrical Storm would hear but Nebula's enhanced hearing picked up his muffled words as well.

Electrical Storm hung her head and didn't answer him. Hijinx slapped her so hard her head lolled to the side. Then he hit her again so her head lolled the other way. "Answer me!" He roared. His eyes were dark and challenging, he knew how she had obtained her information but he wanted to toy with her and make her say it out loud so he could publicly punish her.

"I-I hacked the main computer." She stuttered out. Blood ran from her mouth and bruises were forming on her face already, but then they quickly dispersed and the blood dried as Electrical Storm sent a wave of lightning cackling over her face. The lightning dried the blood and paled the bruises till they matched her skin tone.

 _Just like the other elementals, she can also heal herself._ Nebula recalled how Inferno's flames had wielded her wounds together and how Tsunami's waters had washed the cuts and bruises away. _The superior minds it takes to shape elements to do this must have an IQ higher than Thanos and all of his scientists._ Nebula was astonished by the thought. So astonished that it took the anguished scream of agony from Electrical Storm to bring her from the dream of endless possibilities with minds like that at your command back to the present moment.

Hijinx was fuming, his cool demeanor gone entirely. He had smashed Electrical Storm's head into the table with such force that blood was spattered over the surface from her head. Just as her lightning started healing the wound to her forehead Hijinx smashed her face first into the table once more. Her blood stained the granite surface and small dots decorated Hijinx lab coat. After another two hits into the table Electrical Storm lay barely moving on the table. A whimper of pain left her mouth as Hijinx lifted her head up by her golden hair.

"So you admit to hacking into the files and stealing information about current experiments?" Hijinx questioned. Electrical Storm nodded. Hijinx let go of her hair and let her head fall back to the table. She tried to push herself up off the cold surface but her arms couldn't hold her weight. Nebula felt a slight pity for the girl, if what Titanium said was true than all of them were Terrans, and Terrans had a rather low pain intolerance.

Finally, after a few minutes of struggling, Electrical Storm managed to push herself off the table and to the floor. Hijinx watched her struggles to stand with mock amusement. When she managed to struggle to her feet, her strength obviously returning, Hijinx motioned to the seat she had been sitting in at the start of the meeting. Electrical Storm obediently took a seat.

"So now lets continue our meeting." Hijinx said cheerily, his trademark smile spreading across his face once more. "Does anyone have any objections to Nebula's mind reading capabilities?" None of the others spoke. "Grand!" He exclaimed. "We'll send a team to Terra as soon as possible." With that the meeting was over and the three elementals quickly fled. Electrical Storm leaned slightly to one side but when Titanium offered a hand she was swatted away. Earthquake followed behind them silently.

Nebula approached Hijinx determined to get a straight answer. "What's this about a malfunction with your greatest weapon?" She inquired. "I'd hate to think that one of your experiments would backfire on the battlefield."

"It is none of your concern Daughter of Thanos. Just a small error that will be resolved shortly." Hijinx said dismissively. Nebula wasn't going to be evaded so easily though.

"I highly doubt that." She stated sourly. "If it was so small than you wouldn't have it as classified information." Hijinx smug smile didn't falter which somehow irked Nebula even more than his condescending behavior towards her.

"Everything will be fine, in time." Hijinx stood and escorted Nebula to the door. "I'm sure one of my elementals will help you to a spare room. You leave in the morning for Terra." Before Nebula could object Hijinx slammed the door shut and locked it. Nebula fumed, how dare he treat her like some child! She was one of the greatest assassins ever! A hand on her shoulder had her whirl around and bring her katana up to the neck of Earthquake who stood behind her, well more like over her. Earthquake was thus far the only person taller than Nebula at the lab and by far the least intimidating. Still, who knew what she could do with her land element, I mean her name is Earthquake.

"I didn't mean to startle you." She apologized quietly. Her voice was soft and breezy, it was also immediately calming. Nebula lowered her weapon and returned it to her belt hesitantly. "I can show you where you're going to stay." Earthquake offered. Nebula nodded and followed Earthquake down the stairs back to the bottom floor. "Spare rooms are always at the top, and I don't think you want to walk up all 300 flights of stairs." Earthquake explained as they stopped at a transporter.

"There are 300 floors to this thing?" Nebula asked astonished.

"There's about 400, maybe more, but the ones at the top are empty." Earthquake mentioned as the two stepped through the portal and onto another floor entirely. This one was much quieter and was just a hallway with doors lining one side and a blank wall along the other.

"Great decorating ideas they had." Nebula joked to break the slight bit of tension she felt. Earthquake smiled slightly but it didn't reach her eyes.

"They are scientists, not interior designers." She replied. _Great._ Nebula thought. _Another Drax with no sense of humor._

Earthquake opened a door down a few steps from the portal and Nebula was almost blinded by the light from the three suns the planet orbited around. They were setting and so she was at eye level with their brightness. It was almost no different than Xandar.

"Get some rest." Earthquake told her. "We leave for our mission at first light."

"Are all the elementals going?" Nebula questioned.

"No, only I am." Earthquake answered. "I'm the one who can best fix anything that goes wrong, after all, I do control the literal land we walk on." She grinned a real grin. "I could split this world in two if I wanted to." With that Earthquake left and Nebula just stared at a closed door for a near hour, realizing how far over her head she was in.


	5. Through A Portal, To Terra We Go

**Over A Star And Through A Portal, To Terra We Go**

 _Launch for Terra in T-minus 5 minutes._ The automated voice droned through the loudspeaker. Courtney was already seated inside the Nova Starship along with Drax, Gamora, Groot, and Rocket. Peter had left to go find Harmony and Alexi who were late, as usual. "Those two have such bad timing I bet they were born late." Courtney had joked to Gamora.

"On your planet there is a set time for birth?" Drax had asked incredulously. "That is definitely strange." That had been the end of that conversation so now they were all seated in silence, the sound of Groot humming tunes while Rocket worked on some kind of bomb was the only background noise. Groot shouldn't have been coming along on this mission seeing as how his limbs were still thin and crackly from his growth spurt on Sanctuary. Rocket had refused to go unless Groot was there too and Rocket was the best mechanic and the one who made all the things that went BOOM so that was a sealed deal.

"Where is Quill?" Drax asked, rather loudly in fact. "He should have been back by now." Rocket rolled his eyes.

"He left not two minutes ago, jeez. Give the guy a chance to at least get outta the hangar before you complain he's been gone fer too long." Rocket shook his head and returned to his explosives.

"Rocket, he's been gone for nearly five minutes." Gamora replied. Then she turned to Drax. "Which is still enough time only for him to get to the girls room to find them. Quill moves like a zombie that hasn't slept in days." Gamora commented. Courtney snickered under her breath. All of a sudden Harmony came flying into the ship with Alexi hot on her heels the two collapsed next to Courtney howling with laughter.

"What is up with you two?" Courtney asked. Peter was nowhere in sight.

"We scared Quill so bad!" Harmony laughed. "He thought I was gonna attack him for a second, I just leaped around the corner and didn't even realize I had my wind on until he went flying down the hall!" Alexi was holding her stomach from laughing so hard and Harmony was gasping for breath. When the two of them had calmed down Quill came stomping up onto the ship, his hair a wild mess and a grumpy look on his face.

"That's the last time I go looking for you two." He grumbled.

"In our defense I forgot about my wind for a second." Harmony attempted to explain. Rocket was snickering at Peter's hair and Gamora was holding a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

"You guys think this is so funny." Peter mocked as the door closed on the group. "I'm the one who got flung at full speed into the wall." At that Drax burst out into full on laughter.

"That was an amazing practical joke!" Drax high-fived Alexi and Harmony. "You need to teach me your ways of practical joking, they would be amusing ways to embarrass my teammates!" The two girls exchanged looks of confusion as Drax continued laughing.

"Great, now I have a Drax with practical jokes on the brain to look out for as well." Peter glared at the girls. "I blame you." Alexi and Courtney smiled and waved at him as the ship took off, course set for Terra. They were going at 15 light years per minute so they would be at Terra within the hour, less if they hit the portal at the edge of the galaxy. That one was usually busy so they would have to skip it if too many ships were trying to get through.

Most of the ride was passed by in apart, everyone busying themselves in different ways. Courtney was mostly conversing with Alexi and Harmony about training and how at the end of the week they would get to train with some of the other Nova Corpsmen-in-training.

"I'm excited." Harmony remarked. "Getting to demonstrate my power to all those snobs will be the experience of a generation!"

"Yeah!" Alexi echoed. "I'll scorch their skin so bad they won't ever look at us like pitiful little humans anymore." Her eyes glowed slightly and she smiled at the thought. Courtney watched Alexi warily. Ever since Harmony had remarked about what had gone down between her and Peter Courtney had been watching her friend. Maybe it was the newfound power that was making her act different, maybe not, but something was up.

Alexi had been talking in her sleep recently, and most of it had been violent things. Just last night she had been mumbling for over an hour about 'burning them all down'. She also had become more violent in the waking hours, pushing people out of the way, making rude remarks about others, even training harder just so she could scare the others into liking her. All this along with her declaration of proving herself was keeping Courtney on edge.

Everything was going smoothly thus far. They had been travelling for about half an hour and the portal was up ahead, very little traffic too. It looked like it would be smooth sailing till they hit Terra/Earth. Of course, nothing that the Guardians did was ever smooth, especially when Thanos and Nebula were involved.

* * *

"Nova Starship dead ahead!" Shouted the pilot of the large spaceship Nebula was on. Some other scientists from the lab had accompanied her and Earthquake along on the ride to Terra and they were now looking out the indestructible windows at the Novacore ship in the distance. "Will this turn into a fight?" Earthquake asked Nebula. She shook her head but still worry nagged at her. The Starship wasn't what Nebula was worried about, the Novacore did routine checks in this area, it was their territory. What did worry Nebula was that the ship was headed for the portal which would take them out of Novacore jurisdiction, and only on missions did they leave their boundaries.

The craft they were on sped up and soon was travelling right behind the Novacore ship as they got in line to enter the portal which would deposit them right outside the Milky Way Galaxy which housed Terra. Nebula mentally went over the outer appearance of their ship. Gray and black, no logos, large and bulky, small glass windows with overhanging ledges, no visible weapons for offense or defense, and entirely legal parts and machinery. They would be taken as a delivery van or storage container being transported, nothing else.

"The Novacore won't even notice us." Nebula said out loud trying to ease the scared chatter of the scientists around her. Most of them had never come anywhere near Xandar much less seen someone from the Novacore. They were all stately and careful people, never any wrongdoings; except for this giant lab they ran and the Terran kids they experimented on and sold to major bad guys like Thanos; altogether nice people really.

"Are you sure?" Earthquake eyed the Novacore ship warily as it passed through the portal.

"Positive." Nebula remarked as their ship got ready to pass through.

* * *

"Turn around and get ready to fire the moment they exit!" Gamora barked. She had been the one to notice that the ship behind them wasn't carrying friendly passengers. When questioned how she answered simply, "My sisters blue skin stands out against a clear window of a gray ship." The enemy would have gone unnoticed if Nebula had been standing three feet more to the left and away from the window. Also if Gamora wasn't so observant they would have missed the ship altogether, the perks of having an assassin on the team.

The Nova Starship drew its guns and prepared to fire at the cargo ship the moment it passed entirely through the portal. "They're going after the Infinity Stone as well." Alexi growled, her fire starting up. She motioned to Harmony and Courtney. "We should fight them instead, the stone did choose us after all."

"We don't know how well you three would fare out there in space so how about we stick to guns for now." Gamora mentioned as the cargo ship started coming through the portal. Alexi glared at her but slowly her fire sparked down. Courtney felt slightly bad for her, with her fire only activated when she was scared Alexi couldn't hide her fear as she had on Earth. It was plain to see that she was terrified at the thought of having a space battle with a ship most likely holding elemental powers they'd have to fight. Courtney wanted to comfort her but she knew that would only make Alexi mad.

The cargo ship came fully through the portal. "FIRE!" Gamora shouted. The Nova Starship blasted the cargo ship with an array of light that sent it hurtling to the side. Before the cargo ship could righten itself another blast sent it spiraling to the side yet again. "Hit it along the window side, if we deplete the oxygen inside the ship then they'll most likely surrender." Gamora ordered.

"Why is the ship not attacking us back?" Drax inquired. "Don't they wish to obtain the stone, they should fight for it like honorable warriors." Everyone gave him a glare. "What? It's what I would do." Drax shrugged.

"They aren't fighting because they have no weaponry on the ship." Gamora noted. Another Novacore blast was meant to send spiraling cracks along the cargo ship's windows but they remained intact amazingly. You could see frantic people in lab coats running around, but two stationary figures just stared at the window as if they were wanting it to explode. The one was Nebula, no doubt about that, the other was a green girl with leaves and flowers decorating her.

"Guys." Peter called. "I think Nebula has an element with her!" He peered closer. "It's the land element, what was her name? Earth something- Earth Explosion? Earth Destruction? Earth Caller?" Courtney, Harmony, and Alexi watched the girl from beside Peter, transfixed by her spiked mask.

"Earthquake." They all said simultaneously.

"Oh yeah! That's it!" Peter shouted with glee. Just as he said that the Novacore ship rocked to the side and everyone inside was flung to the ground. The cargo ship wasn't a cargo ship anymore, it had transformed. Iron plates decorated it with the seal of a far off military planet and large guns popped out of the bottom all charged and ready. "Oh shit." Peter whispered.

All havoc broke out as the Novacore and Nebula's ship battled. Guns blazed, explosions rocked each ship, and bright lights lit up the surrounding area. Other ships avoided going through the portal to not get caught up in the vicious fight. Both ships had taken damage but Nebula's craft seemed to just absorb most of the blows and keep going. The Novacore was running out of ammunition and Rocket was starting to rewire power from some systems to charge the guns more. The other ship was fine, still firing bombs and bullets and lasers at a steady pace. All the while Nebula and Earthquake stood by the never smashed window, watching.

"This is ridiculous!" Peter shouted. "We're getting destroyed by these guys!" Peter then went flying into the wall as another bomb threw the Novacore ship around in a circle.

Gamora started powering up another gun using the magnetic charge from her sword. "We can see that Quill!" She shouted. "It'd be nice if you could help us!"

"Help how?" Peter half asked half shouted.

"First, use your element gun to charge up some of these guns. Second, get away from the view port so you don't get killed. Third, stop distracting us." Gamora finished with that gun she was on and moved to another one. Peter went to grab one of the guns to help charge when the sound of the automatic door opened.

"Who's crazy enough to go out into space at a time like this?" Rocket hollered from down in the engine area. Peter and Gamora darted to the back where the door was. Courtney and Harmony both lept out into the void of space, elements up and firing. Alexi was right behind them, fire sparking up wildly.

"Guys stop!" Gamora shouted. It was too late. The three elementals threw themselves towards the opposing ship where another lone figure was heading towards them. It was Earthquake, vines reaching off her body towards the girls.

Harmony sent a spiral of wind forwards that sliced through Earthquakes vines with precision. Courtney stayed close to Harmony but she didn't uses her power. Just put up a blockade of water whenever a blast from the scientists ship was shot in their direction. The water shield made quick work of absorbing blasts, but was immediately taken down whenever Earthquake tried to touch it. Peter remembered that Earthquake got powered up around water. Too bad Titanium wasn't here. Metal downgraded planet if Peter remembered correctly. Harmony was trying to get Earthquake to attack her. Peter thought back to the chart Dey had shown them, planet upgraded wind so Earthquake should avoid hitting Harmony. Alexi was attempting to scorch Earthquake with her fire power but she was too far away for the fire to do any real damage. Plus it seemed like any flames that did reach Earthquake only lightly singed her. Apparently land elements could be fireproof.

"Dammit!" Alexi shouted as Earthquake evaded her yet again. "I'm going after her." She called to Harmony and Courtney. Alexi broke off from Harmony's side and went barreling straight for Earthquake.

"Alexi stop!" Harmony shouted frantically. "Fire needs oxygen to burn, I'm the only thing generating oxygen out here!" Alexi kept going, her flames reaching eagerly for Earthquake. Harmony turned to Courtney. "Stop her!" Harmony yelled at Courtney.

"I can't!" Courtney yelled back. "My water can't drag her back here!"

What happened next was the turning point in all of this. What happened was the breaking point for not only the Novacore but also for Alexi herself. As Alexi put a distance of about five feet between her and Harmony, close enough to touch Earthquake with a flame powerful enough to drive her back a voice went through the com unit that Peter had bribed them to attach to their ears.

"Inferno! This is a direct order, get back to Harmony's oxygen supply and all three of you must return to the ship at once! Reinforcements are on their way." It was Nova Prime's voice. Alexi heard the order, but she didn't care. She threw herself forward and her fire overwhelmed Earthquake. Then, right before the eyes of the Guardians, Harmony, and Courtney, Alexi's fire dissolved without any oxygen to fuel it. It just fizzled out like an extinguished flame or a quenched wildfire, and her deathlike body floated off in the abyss of space.


	6. A Heaping Load Of Trouble

**A Heaping Load of Trouble**

"You disobeyed a direct order! Because of you we nearly lost our shot at the Reality Stone, you'd better be thankful that we drove Nebula's ship back through that portal! Now my guards are stretched out across the edge of the galaxy just to fend off that monster and it is all your fault!" Nova Prime had been yelling at Alexi for the past 10 minutes nonstop. Courtney and Harmony were watching from the corner and the Guardians were eavesdropping from the hallway. Alexi was sitting on her bed, head down, hands folded, not saying anything.

"And to make matters worse," Nova Prime continued. "The Nova council wants me to detain you here at the base! They want to mark you as a dangerous criminal for your actions!" At those words Alexi raised her head and her dark eyes stared a challenge right up at Nova Prime.

"And is that what you want?" She asked. "To put me in the system and leave me locked up? Last time I checked you outranked those council members and I was worth more to the Universe than an entire Infinity Gauntlet." Alexi narrowed her eyes. "So what do you have to say now, Nova Prime?"

Everyone heard the sound of skin on skin before they actually saw Nova Prime slap Alexi. "Foolish girl." Nova Prime hissed. "You are worth nothing to this universe, this galaxy, worth nothing even to this planet or myself until you prove that you can follow orders and not put everyone in danger because of your swelled ego." Nova Prime turned and walked to the door.

"You two," She pointed at Courtney and Harmony. "Alexi is not to leave this room until the Nova officers return with a unanimous order from myself and the Nova council, do you understand?" They both nodded and Nova Prime left the room only to be intercepted by the Guardians as she headed to her office.

"Are you really going to hold Alexi like she's a terrorist or something?" Peter asked.

"She is not dangerous she just needs some extra control over her power." Gamora added.

"Fire is an element that is not to be taken lightly, these types of actions seem common in an attempt to keep her power in check." Drax noted.

"The kid's been through a lot, control is something she hasn't had in her life. Just give her another chance to prove she can act like a soldier." Rocket piped up.

"I am Groot!" Groot exclaimed from where he was struggling to keep up with the group. His small twig legs were working quickly to hold up his body as he half stumbled half skipped after them.

"Guardians, I understand your concern but this is strictly a Nova issue." Nova Prime tried to calm them down as she unlocked her office door. "I don't want to put Alexi or any of the elementals through any unnecessary strain but I can't just ignore a security issue that's right under my nose." With that Nova Prime bid them goodbye and locked them out of her office.

"That really seemed to change her mind Quill." Rocket remarked.

Peter sighed and rubbed his head in frustration. "So all we can do it seems is wait and hope that the council sees Alexi as a scared kid and not some intergalactic menace."

Gamora's eyes hardened. "You want us to just sit around while a group of people we barely know decide the future of a helpless Terrain meant to save the Universe?" She glared at Peter. "I'm going to do something." Gamora turned and walked off, the others watching her go.

"I am going to assist Gamora." Drax announced. "I do believe that we know the best interests of these Terrains, not those officers." Drax followed Gamora.

Peter watched them both go with wide eyes. "Guys! C'mon I want to help too! I just don't think that acting against what Nova Prime said is the best way to do that!" When neither one looked back Peter threw his head back and let out a long sigh of exasperation.

"Great pep talk Quill." Rocket said as he and Groot went to follow the others. "Groot and I are gonna go and attempt to be good guys, join us when your head gets out of your ass." Peter watched in shock as the two scampered off after Gamora and Drax.

"Wait guys." Peter grumbled. "I'm the team leader, I should at least be around to help you do something stupid." Then Peter sprinted after his team and off they went.

* * *

"I've hot-wired this radio from the Milano and caught the frequency being used by Nova Prime to communicate with the council." Rocket explained. They were seated in the elementals room with Courtney, Harmony, and Alexi waiting for Rocket to tune into the conversation. "All I need to do is mess with the waves a little...and there we go!" Rocket exclaimed as clear voices came through the radio.

"Great job buddy!" Peter exclaimed before he was shushed by the others.

"You had no right to put those girls in danger by sending them, not fully trained I might add, on a mission." A deep voice said.

"And to Terra of all places!" I high pitched voice commented.

"I didn't believe they would encounter any danger." That was Nova Prime's voice.

Deep voice scoffed. "You knew good and well that Thanos would try again for his Infinity-" The voice was cut off by Nova Prime.

"Do not call the Stones his! That is giving him control over our thoughts and will not be tolerated in this discussion!"

"My apologies Nova Prime." Deep voice said. "I was only trying to say that you should have been more wary of enemy troops sent to obtain the Stone."

"I know, I thought I was careful." Nova Prime sighed. "I was so careful in protecting against Thanos that I didn't think that Nebula might have been working with someone else to obtain the Stone."

Harmony jumped to her feet all of a sudden. "The land element!" She exclaimed. "Thanos only has Titanium working for him but we fought the girl that could control land. Nebula must have started working with Hijinx instead of Thanos!"

Gamora smiled. "So this makes things easier for us at least." Everyone gave her puzzled looks. "With Nebula going after the Infinity Stone for Hijinx instead of Thanos he will become preoccupied with her betrayal instead of with us. Nebula doesn't know it but she has just provided us the perfect cover to see how closely entwined Thanos and this lab are." She explained. They all then tuned back into the conversation where Nova Prime was explaining the same thing.

"We believe that Nebula has betrayed Thanos in favor of Hijinx and his other elemental creatures. Whether Thanos knows about this or not we have yet to find out." Nova Prime concluded. Silence was heard from the other side.

Finally High pitch broke the silence. "If this is true than we now have two immediate threats after this Stone and the elementals. I suggest you get them ready for battle right away Nova Prime, otherwise this might happen again."

Nova Prime thanked the two voices for their help. Then the conversation turned.

Deep voice spoke first. "Now let's talk about this fire creature, Alexi is her name right?"

"Yes but I don't believe her to be dangerous whatsoever." Nova Prime remarked quickly. "She is nothing more than a child, this power her and her friends now possess is taking a larger toll on her than it seems to be having on the others. I believe her acting out is just a coping mechanism for the stress she is feeling of having to save the Universe from a threat we still don't fully understand."

"Perhaps you're right Nova Prime." High pitch said. "Still, we want to observe this Alexi just to make sure that she isn't going to go off her rails and burn Xandar to a crisp." Laughter was heard from Deep voice.

Nova Prime scoffed. "I do believe that idea is quite preposterous. Alexi does not know how to properly activate her power, much less use it as a weapon." The tension in the room grew as the Guardians saw Alexi, Courtney, and Harmony visibly tense.

"Her actions on Sanctuary seemed to demonstrate she knows what her powers can do." Deep voice mentioned. "And her training proves her excellence! Heat strong enough to melt any metal on contact, healing powers, able to shrink or grow her size, I mean she's practically a battering ram of unstoppable fire."

"The name Inferno does suit her well." High pitch commented.

Nova Prime cleared her throat. "Yes her powers are much but I still do not believe that she would ever consider turning to the evil side. Her friends are here and she has no ties anywhere else in the Universe, at least ties that matter to her. Furthermore I see no reason to detain her anywhere on Xandar and I wish for her to continue her training like a normal Novacore trainee."

There were a few tense moments of silence before the other two agreed that Alexi could rejoin normal training, but she was to have a guard on her at all times. Everyone in the room visibly relaxed as the crisis was avoided.

"At least Alexi is in the clear now." Drax said. Alexi smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.

"You okay kid?" Rocket asked her.

"Yeah, it's just that, I don't want this Nova Council to think I'm some kind of monster just because of what I can do." Alexi stood up. "I'm going to prove that I'm not dangerous and that I can be an asset to this team."

Gamora stood up in front of her. "Alexi you don't have to prove anything to Nova or anyone."

Alexi shook her head. "No, I do. And I will." She turned to Harmony and Courtney. "Help me learn to control and regulate my powers. If Nova Prime sees that I don't need you two to operate then she'll let me do more missions and I can win her trust back." Courtney and Harmony glanced at each other worriedly. "Please guys!" Alexi pleaded.

Finally they both caved. "Okay Alexi, we'll help." Courtney replied. Alexi grabbed them in a bear hug and the Guardians watched respectfully. Maybe this would just blow over quickly and they could go back to looking for Hijinx and Nebula and the Reality Stone.

Who were they kidding? This was just the calm before the firestorm.


	7. Cosmic Fusion

**Cosmic Fusion**

Nebula wandered down the hall with Hijinx towards the lab. Today was a big day, Black Hole was being born. After the Novacore, the elementals, and the Guardians of the Galaxy foiled their capture of the Reality Stone Hijinx had ordered that Black Hole be brought into activity as soon as possible. In Hijinx terms that meant right now. Nebula had been offered a chance to watch the fusion of the Terrain captive and her cosmic element. She was almost jealous, not everyone got the chance to become one of the most powerful things in existence. Of course there still was the unknown issue with the element that had caused the very delay that Hijinx was working to overlook currently. All things aside, Nebula was eager to see this fusion take place. It didn't seem that the Terrain girl shared her exact feelings.

"Release me!" She screamed as Titanium dragged her in. "Let me go you walking vacuum cleaner!" The girl thrashed and her long brown hair flew around her head. She had tanned skin and fake highlights in her hair that made her look like a cheap doll. She was thin and wiry like she had never even considered working out in her life. Nebula was positive that she could break this girl in half with a small kick to her stomach. Titanium ignored the girls pleas and continued dragging her into the room.

"Why are _you_ bringing her in?" Nebula asked Titanium.

"I need to meet the element that my power will upgrade." Titanium replied. "I will be her ally considering how our powers react to each other."

The girl glared at Titanium with anger in her eyes. "I would never be friends with a living junkyard!" She spat. Titanium rolled her eyes and handed her to one of the scientists.

"That bitch put up one good fight." Titanium grumbled as she took a spot near Nebula.

"You don't think you acted like that when you entered the lab?" Nebula asked.

Titanium shook her head. "They wipe our brains to make sure we don't have any thoughts of running back to Terra, and so we are devoted to Hijinx." She nodded to where the scientists where hooking up some wires and needles to the girl's head. She was thrashing about but the straps on her body held her down mostly. "They're going to make her memories disappear and then they can input new commands and thoughts into her, almost like entering information on a computer. After the fusion the thoughts will be permanently stuck there and she'll have no choice but to follow the orders or risk her brain decaying." Nebula almost wanted to applaud Hijinx for such a smart move on his otherwise dense mindset.

"This isn't right! Stop!" The girl's pleas of anger had changed to ones of desperation as she realized that no one was going to help her. "What are you gonna do to me?" She whispered in a terrified voice as Hijinx began starting up the machines.

"This part won't hurt honey." He replied as the final charges were applied to her brain. "This just will numb your brain," He motioned to the fluid entering her head through the needles. "And then the charges will disintegrate the hippocampus until you're memory is gone. After that we'll input your commands and set up the equipment for the fusion." The girl's eyes widened in horror.

"You're gonna wipe my memory?" The girl whispered. Her struggles against the straps began again with more vigor than before. Nebula had to give her credit for the fight she was putting up. "You can't do this!" The girl screeched. "You can't just twist my head around and do whatever you want with it!" She glared fiercely at Hijinx.

He smiled at her as her eyes started going blank. The fluid had taken effect and the charges were working their magic on her memory. "Oh darling, I just did." Hijinx started giving orders to his men and Nebula watched as the girl's body twitched on the table.

"She'll stay that way for about 10 minutes and then they'll reprogram her." Titanium explained.

Nebula watched in avid fascination as the scientists worked around the girl prepping for the fusion. They brought in a sealed orb, just like the one used to hold the infinity stone, and hooked it over her body. Meanwhile Hijinx was watching the charts and screens to make sure everything was running smoothly in her disintegrating brain. Hijinx gave the order to begin the fusion. Nebula watched the girls bleary and confused face look around in shock as she took in the surroundings. Then her face became horror as the orb was opened and out swirled the most beautiful creature Nebula had ever seen.

Now the cosmos themselves were a marvelous sight to behold. You had storms of poisonous gas sitting in gaps of time, stars that exploded with galaxy clusters as a backdrop, black holes that swallowed civilizations whole like they were snacks, asteroids and comets that flew at warp speed around the universe, moons that got bombed out by unforgiving meteors, stars that spat out billions of tons of hydrogen daily to support nearby life, dormant planets with no atmosphere to hold a drop of air, wormholes that threw you from one end of the universe to the other, storms that whirled and swirled over planets for centuries, acidic rain the covered deserts, icebergs that sat in underground caverns on long forgotten planets, space craft pieces that were destroyed or abandoned when they didn't accomplish their goal, light that came from every corner of the dimension no matter which way you turned, clusters of nursery's where stars came bursting to life with sparking embers, rainbows of color that decorated nebulae, even colors that had yet to find a name but could only be described as unimaginable. There was dense areas of collapsed matter, pockets of monstrous gravity, solar flares that snatched ships out of the sky, extinction level rocks and ice that hurtled around in dizzying patterns, and to top it all off, there were living things that left their mark on every speck of matter within their reach. And if they couldn't reach it yet, they found a way.

The creature that appeared before them was all of that beauty poured over a body. It was as though the cosmos had turned into paint and spilled on her. Nebula swore she could see right through this creature. She could see the infinite of space reflecting off her body and she wanted to reach out and walk right through her like a portal. A teleportation into a different reality. Instead Nebula was snapped out of her awe by the creatures voice. She would've never thought that a being so flawless and fair could have such a dominant tone and a harsh bite to her words. It was like ice cream laced with venom or cotton candy covered in mud. A beautiful treat you got to feast on, tarnished. It was such a shock that Nebula could've sworn her heart stopped for a few seconds before resuming it's job.

"Why am I here?" The being hissed. She swirled around and her black eyes stared at Hijinx as though he were a worm crawling under her. The stars lining the corners of her eyes sparkled fiercely and her teeth were jagged like the surface of countless planets. Hijinx even looked stunned and it took a minute for his calm composure to take over.

"Welcome Black Hole!" He greeted cheerfully. The being did not look pleased to be addressed by the name.

She rose up higher above the table, her arms spread in a pose of power, comet tails of dusty rocks and gas swirling around her formed biceps. She looked not to be wearing anything, but yet she was decorated with the entire multiverse as her outfit. Her hair crowned her head like that of an empress and was so silver it shone like a star. "I am Cosma, Queen of the cosmos! You will address me as such, creature of flesh. Now answer me, why am I here?" She raised her head and seemed to stare through the ceiling for a second. "Ah yes, I am on Kortava, fifth planet from the star system known as Godsyi. Experienced extinction level attacks but yet maintains a survivable atmosphere and harbors life." She smiled at Hijinx. "I do believe that I don't know who you are. I fear I'm only capable of documenting the most famous of Universal beings."

Hijinx bowed to her. "Welcome to my planet Cosma. I am Hijinx, leader of this planet and sole reason why it still exists. You are here because I intend to turn your power into a weapon to knock out the most influential and evil being known to man."

Cosma looked interested. "What being am I going to be protecting my precious cosmos from?" She asked. "Annihilus? Amatsu-Mikaboshi? Majeston Zelia? Michael Korvac? Blastaar?"

Hijinx shook his head. "The Mad Titan Thanos."

Cosmia looked puzzled. "I've never heard of him."

Nebula almost choked on air. "How could you not have heard of Thanos? He is the rightful beholder of the Infinity Gauntlet and the destroyer of countless galaxies. Whole worlds bow to his will and you claim you've never even heard his name!"

"I only remember the greatest threats to my Universe. If I don't know him, then he's not worth knowing." Nebula was fuming at those words. Who could be more powerful than Thanos?

Hijinx waved his hand to silence Nebula. "Dear Queen of the Cosmos, please help me in my mission to destroy Thanos. He is going to become a larger threat the more time he is given without interruption. Previous people have tried to defeat him and have failed. He will make a strike big enough to catch your attention. Before he does whatever destructive thing he has in mind we need to stop him."

"And you expect me to seek help from a piece of flesh and some artificially enhanced cyborgs?" Cosma scoffed. "If this Thanos is such a big threat then I will deal with him myself." She went to leave then paused. "Next time you wish to ask for my help, I suggest you do it a different way then trapping me." Hijinx blanched as Cosma started to ascend through the roof back to space.

"Wait! You can't leave!" He shouted. Cosma glared at him.

"And why not?" She snarled. Hijinx floundered for an excuse but he was coming up empty. Cosma was impatiently glaring at Hijinx, her impatience causing the nebulae on her to glow brighter. Suddenly a loud siren sounded throughout the complex.

 **"Entity Closing In, Entity Closing In. This Is Not A Drill. Entity Closing In, Entity Closing In. This is Not A Drill."**

The blaring siren snapped everyone's attentions to the automated voices' warning. Cosma took this opportunity to leave the room, Hijinx was too busy pulling up the security cameras to notice.

"Oh my Xandar." He breathed. Nebula tried to glance over his shoulder but he tore off towards the front doors. Titanium grabbed Nebula's arm and they both followed him at a breakneck speed. They weaved through scientists who had stopped whatever work they were doing to watch what was going on. When Nebula reached the doors her and Titanium practically broke them down trying to force their way outside after Hijinx.

Outside, Cosma hovered above the ground. Her expression was puzzled as she stared at the creature in front of her. "Who are you? I fear I do not know of you." Cosma's expression changed to worry. "But I can sense your power."

Nebula moved around Cosma to stand beside a gaping Hijinx and a stunned Titanium. There, in her full fiery form, was Inferno.

"Hijinx." She spoke, ignoring Cosma. "I am Inferno, and I am here to swear my loyalty and join you."

* * *

 **AN: So sorry I haven't updated recently. My school is doing anew curriculum idea, again, and I'm getting used to it. Not to mention they put me in a higher math class so now I actually have homework to do. Anyway, I ran out of chapters I'm already finished with so it's back to write and update whenever I can. Plus, now the action is starting so I'll be leaving some cliffhangers *Evil laughter*. Hope you guys enjoyed your summer, are having a great start of school, and I hope to update sometime around September 20th.**


	8. Xandar On Fire

**Xandar On Fire**

 _Nebula moved around Cosma to stand beside a gaping Hijinx and a stunned Titanium. There, in her full fiery form, was Inferno._

 _"Hijinx." She spoke, ignoring Cosma. "I am Inferno, and I am here to swear my loyalty and join you."_

* * *

 **3 Days Earlier**

Alexi, Courtney, and Harmony were doing what they always did on a normal day at Nova Headquarters, training. Harmony was working on trying to recreate the scream from Sanctuary, Courtney was seeing how high her waves could get, and Alexi was practicing regulating her fire temperature. They were all making progress, except Alexi.

"C'mon! Work with me!" She yelled in anger. Her flames were browning the walls and her eyes were so golden they looked deadly. She punched the wall in frustration and in response another spark lit up. Her fear of failure was continually fueling her flames, preventing her from cooling them down to a nonlethal level.

Peter stood in the corner, avoiding getting close to Alexi. "Maybe try not to get so upset!" He yelled. "Think calming thoughts!"

Alexi whirled on him with fury in her voice. "I am calm!"

Peter flinched. "Yeah you seem really calm." He mumbled. She glowered and sent a fire spiral in his direction. "Woah!" He shouted as he nimbly dodged it. A smile crossed her face as Peter shot her a glare. "Why don't you try harder to keep calm." Peter suggested. Alexi looked ready to snap back at him but instead just sighed and followed his instruction.

She closed her eyes and focused on trying to calm down. Thoughts of home filled Alexi's mind. Not home as in her actual house, but home as in Earth, the places where her happiest memories roamed. Images of when she was younger with Harmony and Courtney, back when they were all young and happy, filled her brain. Before Harmony's family was killed by robbers, before Courtney announced that she was dying of brain cancer, before Alexi's so called 'father' and taken a swing at her for the first time.

She thought of the time the three of them had hung out as a group at recess for the first time, back in 3rd grade. They had sat on the tanbark underneath the slide and made little drawings in the dirt. She thought of the time the three of them had rode their bikes down the grassy hill in Courtney's backyard and Harmony had fallen off and into a muddy puddle. Alexi remembered the time when Courtney had dared her to drink hot sauce at a sleepover and she had, then Alexi had spent the next half hour swallowing ice cubes to quell the burning. Visions of all the times the three of them had laughed so hard their stomachs hurt flooded her head and soon instead of raging fire in her eyes, Alexi could see nothing but the three of them pretending they were sisters.

The calming thoughts were working as her flames started disintegrating and the temperature seemed to drop in the room. The fire receded from assaulting the walls and the white hot crackling centers faded down to a cooling yellow.

"Go Alexi!" Harmony shouted in encouragement. "I knew you could do it!" Courtney stopped what she was doing to smile encouragingly at her friend. Alexi's flames sizzled and crackled as a form of final word before slowly dispersing. They were left with a spiral of smoke curling around Alexi like a blanket.

Alexi looked shocked as the glowing light in her eyes turned back into her normal pupils and her fiery mane calmed down. "Woah, so that's what controlling my fire is like."

Peter grinned a dopey grin. "And all you had to do was listen to me!" He proclaimed loudly. Alexi just gave him a nod of agreement before she got ready to spark up her powers again.

"Let's see how fast I can make them appear and disappear." She grinned. Peter, Courtney, and Harmony stepped back as Alexi practically exploded into a fiery array of heat and light. Just as quickly as the flames began dancing they were whisked away, their only sign of ever existing being a thin trail of smoke. Next Alexi started her flames out slow, bringing them around her like little children to a mother. She pulled the flames up until they crested over her head. Soon she had a cocoon of fire around her like a shield.

"That's better then a water shield." Courtney remarked. Alexi pulled the fire in closer to her until it absorbed into her body and disappeared.

"I see you've figured out a method of control." They all jumped as Nova Prime's voice startled them.

Alexi turned to face Nova Prime, a look of determination on her face. "Yes, I can control my powers. See, I can be an asset to the team, not a liability."

"I can tell that you are determined to prove your worth." Nova Prime turned to Harmony and Courtney. "I can tell that all of you are trying to prove that you can complete this prophecy. I have come to a decision regarding your training. I want all three of you to join a group of Novacore trainees on a mock mission as part of a training exercise. I'll be able to see how the three of you work with others and it'll give some of you," Nova Prime glanced at Alexi, "A chance to redeem yourself from the last mission."

Peter jumped up and gave a shout for joy right there. "This is awesome!" He shouted. Harmony kicked Peter in the shin to shut him up.

"Thank you Nova Prime for this opportunity." Courtney replied politely.

"Yes thank you." Alexi agreed. "When will this mission be taking place?"

"Tomorrow."

* * *

Alexi, Courtney, and Harmony woke up bright and early the next day and began preparing for their training exercise. Their idea of preparing was jumping around for joy and squealing like little kids.

"I can't believe it's finally happening!" Harmony cried in joy. She was bouncing on her bed with a smile wider then the Wall of China on her face.

Courtney giggled, a noise highly uncommon for her. "Maybe now we'll finally get to learn more about this prophecy thing!"

"That's if the Novacore even know anything about it." Alexi piped up. She was sprawled across her bed playing with small sparks of fire between her fingers.

"They should, I mean, aren't they the Novacore?" Harmony answered from across the room. "Their job is to protect the galaxy, I'd think they'd be up to date on all the baddies out there."

Courtney nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I mean they knew about Thanos. Earth doesn't know about Thanos, so the Novacore must be pretty smart."

"They're aliens. We're humans. Of course they're smart!" Alexi laughed. "I dare you to find me a species dumber then humanity!"

A cry of "Hey!" from outside their door interrupted their laughter. Alexi opened the door and Peter Quill nearly fell into their room.

"Quill." The three greeted. He smiled sheepishly while Drax who stood behind him was laughing.

"I told you that they would notice your stalking Quill!" He boomed. "These three are smart ones, unlike your pathetic self." Drax let out another round of laughter while the rest of them just stood there staring at him.

"Thanks for the ego boost Drax." Peter mumbled. He stood up and attempted to look formal after painfully bruising his pride. "Drax and I are here to take you three to where your mission will begin."

When Alexi, Courtney, and Harmony arrived at the mission room they were instantly welcomed warmly. Not. If anything, the trainees looked like they would've preferred to be working with three Kree instead of the elementals. Glares and whispers seemed to follow the girls as they snaked their way through the room to see what their instructions would be and what teams they would be on.

The mission was simple. There would be two teams, one would be guarding the stash of 'priceless' material and the other would be trying to take said material. Both teams were supposed to fight to see who would get the material. The mission would last about 2 hours and the winner would be decided by who had more of the material at the end of the time. The mission would take place on one of Xandar's moons and old Nova Starships would be used to fight. Harmony and Alexi were on Team A, guarding the material. Courtney was on Team B, fighting for the material.

"We'll need a strategy." Harmony whispered to Alexi as they joined their group. "Courtney will go for you more than me cause she can take you out. I can upgrade you so that she can't hit you."

Alexi gave Harmony a dubious look. "That's impossible." She remarked. "As long as we fight from space then we're good. Courtney won't have oxygen without you."

"She can turn her water into a gas and create an oxygen bubble. There's oxygen in water you know, H2O means 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen." Harmony reminded her. "Didn't you pay attention in science class?"

"Do I really look like I payed attention in science class?" Alexi said. Harmony laughed and the two climbed aboard the Nova Starship they would be using.

"Oh look here boys," A voice crowed. "We've got ourselves some elementals on our mission!" Rounds of laughter were heard. Alexi and Harmony stood face to face with another Novacore trainee, Arrog Ant, a Shi'ar. He was the top of the class and wasn't afraid to use that to get what he wanted. Usually he wanted to mess with the elementals.

"We're here only because Nova Prime told us to be." Alexi smiled. "If it were up to us we'd be the farthest away from you as possible." Arrog narrowed his eyes as his teammates behind him covered their grins with their hands.

He waltzed up to Alexi and stared her down from his towering 6 ft 8 in height. "You're asking to get your ass obliterated out there fire sprite." He snarled.

"Try me." Alexi hissed. The two stared each other down until the bell sounded that the mission was about to begin. Arrog sent Alexi a last second glance before going to the cockpit of the ship to do what he does best, take control.

"I really don't think this is going to go well." Harmony stated as the ship took off and left Xandar's atmosphere.

Alexi gave her a look. "Of course it isn't. Nothing ever goes right for us."

The ride to Xandar's moon took about an hour, and that was at the Starship's fastest speed. Then again this thing was pretty old. When the team arrived they found a recently constructed warehouse made of metal. They landed the Starship in the hangar around back and inspected the inside. There were stacks of scrap metal painted vibrant colors to represent priceless material. Arrog picked up one of the pieces and looked it over before tossing it back into the pile.

"The cheap Novacore can't even give us real material to guard." He complained.

Alexi bent down and more closely examined some of the pieces. Each piece looked to be worth less than dirt. "That's probably because they don't want sticky fingers like you getting REAL priceless items." Alexi remarked. Arrog rounded on her and kicked her harshly in the rib-cage, sending her flying into Harmony.

"Now you listen here elementals!" He shouted. "I'm in charge of this mission and I want you two to follow my orders to a T! Got it?" Arrog leaned down to stare at them. "And if you don't, then I can get both of you thrown into the cells at Nova Headquarters so fast you're heads will spin." He smiled a bold smile before going off to arrange a battle formation with his friends.

"Great job Alexi. Now the one guy here who can ruin our reputations with the Novacore hates us even more!" Harmony shoved Alexi to the side. Alexi smirked.

"But messing with him is so much fun!" She exclaimed. Harmony rolled her eyes and the two ran to catch up with the rest of the trainees. Courtney's group was to arrive any minute now to start attacking for the material.

Arrog had all the best sharpshooters lined up along the front wall, meanwhile the techies of the group disabled the guns on the Starship to shoot with. The rest of the trainees were to secure the perimeter in their designated areas. Some were stationed on the roof, others near the material, and some were surrounding the building. They were wearing old armor that had been found in a storage closet and the best lookouts had enhanced viewers, which looked like Earth binoculars, to watch for any attacks. Alexi and Harmony were patrolling the roof with two other lower class trainees. You had to give some praise to Arrog, he sure knew how to arrange a fortress.

"They're approaching!" A voice shouted from below. Alexi looked up at the sky and saw the Starship break through the atmosphere. It was approaching rapidly, engines firing. Harmony, who had been identified as another good lookout to Alexi's amazement, was watching the ship through her enhanced viewers. All of a sudden she took off towards the edge of the roof and called down to the sharpshooters.

"They have their guns drawn. Fire as soon as you have a shot!" She ordered.

Arrog poked his head out of one of the blown out windows. "Don't give orders to my team!" He shouted back.

"I wasn't giving an order, I was stating an observation and giving an idea!"

"Well it sure sounded like an order!"

"If you got your head out of your ass for a second then maybe it wouldn't have sounded like one!"

"My species cannot bend our spines in such a way that our heads would go near our asses!"

"Oh my god, are humans the only species that use sarcasm!"

A sudden blast from the Nova Starship not only ended the conversation between Arrog and Harmony but also sent Harmony flying off the roof. The sharpshooters decided now that the other team was literally on top of them it was a good time to shoot. The other two trainees on the roof ran for cover from the laser fire. Alexi flared up, her fire curling around her into a shield that took every blast sent her way.

"Elemental! Get down!" Arrog yelled. Alexi ignored him and threw an arm of fire up at the Starship. The sudden hit sent the ship hurtling to the right and the laser fire ceased briefly.

Alexi turned to Arrog. "I'm going up." Alexi then shot up into the air, heading straight for the Starship. Suddenly she was pushed back towards the ground by a stream of water. Courtney had also exited the Starship and was heading for Alexi. Another stream of water forced Alexi to loop around the building to avoid the spray. Courtney formed a small cloud with her hands and sent it towards Alexi. She easily dodged it and smirked at Courtney.

"I guess you need to work on your aim." Alexi snickered. Courtney just pointed behind Alexi with a smile. Alexi turned around in time to get hit head on by the cloud which exploded into a giant raindrop. It had boomeranged around after she had dodged it. Alexi crashed onto the roof of the warehouse, fires extinguished. She sat up and shook out her wet hair. Courtney was lowering herself slowly to the ground and Alexi started trying to force her fire back up. Nothing happened.

Another stream of water sent Alexi nearly off the roof. Her clothes stuck to her body and her hair was plastered to her head. A shiver ran down Alexi's spine and she could feel her teeth start to chatter. Courtney's water was freezing cold! Alexi stood up and forced her numbing legs to stumble over towards the "elevator". The group earlier had found that there was an old system in the corner of the warehouse that took people up from the first floor to second floor. It looked like an ancient version of an elevator from Earth. They had disguised it by putting a sheet of metal over it, so all Alexi had to do was distract Courtney and get inside it.

Before Alexi could even formulate a plan on how to distract Courtney she was swept over by a wave of water. She reached out to grab something to hold onto so she wouldn't go flying to the ground. Alexi's hand wrapped around the corner of the metal covering the "elevator" and she held on for dear life. The force of the water kept Alexi moving, taking the scrap metal with it. Alexi landed on the sopping wet concrete roof with the piece of metal on top of her.

"Hey guys!" Courtney shouted to her group, who had disembarked from their Starship as they had landed behind the warehouse. "I found a way in!" She exclaimed. Alexi fought through the coldness in her blood from Courtney's waters and tried to throw the piece of metal at her. Instead Alexi succeeded in falling flat on her face, her legs completely numb and useless. "Sorry Alexi," That was Courtney's voice. "I just really want to help my team." Courtney actually sounded apologetic and when Alexi looked up into her eyes she could see remorse and pain behind them.

Just when Alexi went to say that it was okay Courtney threw Alexi over the roof with another spray of water. Alexi landed hard on the dusty rocky terrain and cried out. It felt like a million stab wounds in her back! Alexi twisted over and choked out water and some blood from her lungs. Alexi started seeing tunnel vision and all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep. The ice in her muscles made them cramp up and just the thought of moving her body made her shiver. Just as Alexi closed her eyes to sleep off the ringing in her eardrums a loud whooshing of wind woke her up abruptly.

"Alexi! Are you okay? Get up Courtney's team is inside, Arrog needs us!" Harmony, in her elemental form, grabbed Alexi's arm and lifted her off the ground and into the air with her. "Geez, you're freezing cold and soaking wet!" Harmony exclaimed.

"I f-f-fought C-Courtney." Alexi stuttered out.

"Can you turn into Inferno?" Harmony asked. Alexi shook her head no. Harmony set her down near the entrance to the warehouse. "Stay here and guard to make sure no one leaves with material. Got it?" Harmony left to go inside before Alexi could even respond. Loud shouts and sounds of gunfire were heard from inside the building and Alexi started desperately wishing she could be in there fighting too.

"I need someone by the back exit doors, at least three! They're large and we don't have anything to barricade with!" Arrog's orders were so loud they rang in Alexi's ears. She could guard those doors with her fire, no one would get by! Except for Courtney and her water powers of course. Alexi felt terrible. She couldn't help out her team because the one thing her fire couldn't stand was fighting against her. A surge of fury went through her and Alexi punched the wall in anger. Her fist was so numb from the cold she didn't even feel it.

"Why did you put me against Courtney!" Alexi yelled into the sky, wishing she was yelling at Nova Prime. "Did you really want to prove your point that I can't do anything? Cause you've proved it!" Alexi felt tears prick in her eyes and tried feverishly to push them away. She was a tough ass bitch who survived hell and back, she didn't cry. Especially not because she was useless. Alexi was used to feeling this way. Hearing from the Infinity Stone that she might actually be of use to the universe had broken down some of the hate that had built inside her brain about herself. Now it was all rushing back into her and she couldn't stop it.

"I just want to prove that I'm not a burden!" Alexi screamed. A single tear ran down her face and soon Alexi was sitting on the ground sobbing. Shivers wracked her body and the sounds of the battle inside just reminded her of all that she was missing. Alexi closed her eyes to block everything out, to disappear into her head like she always did. Except inside her mind everything was on fire! All Alexi could see was flames and all she could feel was a burning anger. It was crazy, Alexi's trigger was fear, not anger. The rage kept growing though, it grew and grew and as it grew so did the fire in Alexi's eyes.

She forced her eyes open and out of the world filled with fire. She was not destructive, she was a fighter! She would get in there and be Inferno, who she was meant to be! Alexi stood up and the determination to prove what she could do swept away all feeling of loss and disgust towards herself. Alexi felt her body heat up and soon her flames were around her once more. The fire crackled and sizzled as Alexi let her resentment and fear fuel it even more. "Let's do this." Alexi whispered.

Inside the warehouse all rules had been abandoned. Random objects were being used as weapons against each other and some had resorted to just physical fighting. Harmony and Courtney were rotating around the room to help out their teams but it seemed like nobody was really winning. Alexi was going to change that. She didn't know how much time they had left, but one way to win for sure would be to just get rid of everything.

Alexi pushed her fire outwards so it engulfed the building. It wasn't enough, she couldn't see that anything was on fire! Alexi forced more and more fire out and around the building. Nothing was working! Her fire wasn't causing any damage! She felt nothing and her fires started cooling down. "No!" She shouted. A surge of anger spread through her body and her fires exploded around her. The reached out through the ceiling and she could hear the screams all around. It was a wailing chorus to her devastation, and it was beautiful! Alexi pulled every emotion she could conceive up through her body, letting each one send wave after wave of fire through her. Alexi smiled, she was doing it! She had finally proven that she could be an asset to the team. She finally was an elemental.

* * *

 **3 hours later**

The Guardians and Nova Prime watched the screens in horror. Everyone at Nova headquarters was still shaken from the event that had occurred during the training exercise. Peter hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from the recording for the past hour. Out of all 40 trainees only 20 had survived. Out of those 20 only 5 were uninjured. That was thanks to Courtney who had been able to prevent Alexi's flames from reaching all over the warehouse.

Alexi herself was currently in suspended animation inside a glass container full of water in the prison sector of Nova Headquarters. She had an oxygen mask over her mouth to breathe but other than that she was completely submerged in the water. Her arms were cuffed at her elbows behind her back with an electroshock collar around her neck. Her legs were chained together at her knees and the chains on her legs and arms connected to the walls of the container she was in. It was official, Alexi was a terrorist.

From what Harmony and Courtney said, Alexi had exploded on the moon. She had engulfed the whole building in a matter of seconds, and it seemed like she had been trying to kill everyone. The Guardians were stunned, why would Alexi do something like this? What had possessed her that she tried to annihilate even her friends? Nova Prime wanted answers too, so she sent Xandar's top interrogator down to find out. The Guardians and the remaining elementals tagged along.

The Headmaster, as he was called by the Xandarians, opened a panel on the wall and sent shocks through Alexi's collar causing her to wake up with a scream. "Inferno." He greeted. Alexi glared at him and tried to advance towards him before the fact that she was underwater and chained up registered. When Alexi turned and saw the Guardians, Courtney, and Harmony standing there her eyes lit up with hope. That hope quickly was replaced by agony as 100 volts of electricity entered her body.

"Inferno, you caused much damage on your little rampage." The Headmaster spoke as Alexi stopped twitching. "You've killed many and injured many more. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Alexi looked confused. "Killed? What do you mean I killed people?" Her words were slightly garbled from talking through a mask but the Headmaster understood her all the same.

"You've killed 20 people." The Headmaster said. "You've proven to all of Xandar just how dangerous you are." Alexi shook her head violently from side to side.

"No! That's impossible! I'd never hurt anyone, I couldn't have killed people!" Alexi cried. Tears were shining on her face and her struggles against the chains had weakened as her energy died.

The Headmaster shrugged. "It doesn't matter what you think you did or didn't do, what matters is that you did it and I'm going to find out why and how." He pressed another button on the panel and Alexi's whole body convulsed violently. 125 volts of electricity seared their way through her body as everyone in the room watched.

"Stop already!" Courtney shouted. The Headmaster turned to look at her.

"Stop what? Interrogating a terrorist?" He turned the dial up until Alexi's screams of pain turned to pleas for mercy. Now 137 volts were coursing through her veins.

Peter stepped up and turned the panel off. Alexi's body just hung in the water, her breathing ragged and heavy. "You were going to kill her." Peter said to The Headmaster.

"If I don't get my information, then I must."

Alexi looked up, her eyes glassy and distant. "I don't know anything." She slurred. "I was just following what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to be Inferno."

Peter pressed himself up against the glass to look at her closer. "Alexi. You became Inferno, but you also became deadly." His voice turned sad. "We want to help you, we really do, but you need to tell us how you did it."

"Did what?" Alexi asked.

"How ya became such a stronger version of yerself, without using any fear." Rocket spoke up. "Your brain waves showed that you got a power surge straight to your powers right before you exploded, but it wasn't fear. Your powers are only supposed to be activated by fear, which is why everyone's scared. They want to know what happened to ya."

Alexi shook her head in confusion. "I was upset, angry that Courtney could so easily take me down. I remember feeling rage and then my fire was everywhere. I thought if I destroyed everything then that would prove that I was strong. So that's what I did, I destroyed everything."

"So she admits it." The Headmaster smiled gleefully. "You admit your goal was to cause destruction Inferno!" He leaned closer to her watery prison. "Then I hope you know that Xandar doesn't play nice with people who admit to crimes."

Peter waved his hands to get The Headmasters attention. "Yo dude! She never admitted to killing, just to destroying. That's a minor offence at most!" The Headmaster ignored him and just hustled the Guardians and elementals out of the room.

"That'll be all heroes." He dismissed. The doors were practically sound proof but they could still hear Alexi's screams.

* * *

Later that night the Guardians of the Galaxy were still up and restless. The Headmaster had continued with Alexi for almost three hours, and the Guardians swore they could hear every cry. Peter was playing his mixtape, Gamora was sharpening her sword, Rocket was building a gun, Drax was polishing knives, and Groot was dancing to music. An uneasy silence hung over their heads like a gathering storm.

"What do you think Nova Prime will do about Alexi." Gamora spoke up suddenly. She was staring Peter down from across the room, her hands still working the two blades on her lap.

Peter thought for a moment as everyone's gaze turned to him. "I'm not sure. I think she'll understand that it was all a mistake."

Rocket scoffed. "Alexi killed people, destroyed things, I don't think Nova Prime will overlook that." He said. "She was willing to throw Alexi under the bus just for disobeying orders the first time. Alexi will be crucified if Nova Prime's got anything to say about it."

"I do believe that Nova Prime will be understanding in Alexi's predicament." Drax spoke up. The normally boisterous giant was unusually soft. "As I spoke before, fire is an uncontrollable substance, meant only for destruction. It might not be the most powerful element but it is the most temperamental."

Peter sat up suddenly. "Oh my gosh Drax just made sense." He whispered.

"Yeah we all heard him Quill, surprising, but now is not the time to go shouting it through the halls." Rocket remarked. Peter was already up and heading towards the door to leave.

"Peter where are you going?" Gamora shouted after him.

Peter turned around as he bolted down the hall. "I think I know how to help Alexi!" The other Guardians shrugged at each other but quickly followed Peter down to the dungeons.

When the Guardians got down there they found that the door had already been opened. Rocket checked the key card that had been used to open the door. "Lt. Frasquer." He read. "That's the guard that they put on Harmony and Courtney just in case."

"They must have stolen his card to come down and see Alexi." Gamora noted as the group entered the dungeons.

Instantly they were met with a gruesome sight.

The tank holding Alexi had exploded, glass was laying everywhere, and water lay in puddles on the floor. The chains holding Alexi had been gnawed through with razor teeth, and the clamps holding her elbows and knees had been torn in two. Courtney and Harmony lay burned and unconscious on the ground, smoke still drifting off of them. The Guardians were scared to wonder if they were dead or alive. Finally in the middle of the room, stood Alexi. Not the real Alexi, it was Inferno. Fire crackled around her like a barrier and white hot rage glowed in her eyes. The fire inched along the ground trying to get more and more coverage to expand. Her flames hissed at the Guardians presence and Alexi just turned to stare at them with amusement in her grin.

"I see you returned for me." Her voice was haunted and eerie, like it was coming out of an old music box. Alexi stepped forward and spread her fiery arms to indicate the room. "Do you like my home? You picked it out for me." Her glare swept around the room from the dripping ceilings to the mossy walls to the stone floors that kept all heat out. "I don't quite like it." She whispered.

"Alexi. What happened here?" Peter held his hands out in a gesture of friendship and slowly approached.

Alexi threw out an arm of fire that pushed Peter back against the wall. "I've reclaimed my name." She hissed. "I proved that I'm the strongest elemental, and instead of being praised and honored I'm caged like an animal!" Her voice rose an octave as she advanced towards the Guardians. "I have tried to fit in on this planet for four months! I've learned the language, followed the customs, never spoke out of turn, completed whatever mundane training task was required of me! I slaved and toiled my way to the top of the charts and what do I get? I get labeled as a terrorist for one little mistake!" Alexi whirled on the bodies of Courtney and Harmony.

"You two were so perfect weren't you? You had your own little worlds going on inside your heads and no consideration was ever given to me! Nova Prime gave us that mission so I could prove myself to her! You two screwed it all up!" Alexi punched the wall and slowly fire started creeping up to the ceiling. Smoke was starting to fill the room. "I tried to work with my powers, I did! Only fear could activate them, that's what I was told. Now though, I've discovered I am more powerful than all of you! I can control my fire using any emotion I want! All because you people broke every bit of sanity I had left!" Alexi laughed a maniac's laugh. "And now you expect me to not utilize my new power to get my rights back? I'm a living being too, not some animal gone rouge!" Alexi let her fire move closer to the two girls. "You come down here saying you want to talk and I think you're here to help. No, you just want to accuse me of being evil! You think I'm working for Hijinx!"

Her fire curled around Courtney and Harmony who were slowly waking up. Peter reached for his element gun and fired a stream of water at Alexi's backside. She whirled around in rage and faced the Guardians, fires coiling towards them like snakes. "You will not hurt them." Peter stated as firm as he could. His gun was level with Alexi's chest and he was prepared to fire again.

Alexi smiled. "I knew you thought I was the bad guy Peter Quill. If you all want me so bad to be a villain, then I'll be a villain!" Alexi rose her hands above her head and with a loud cry of rage let her fire engulf the room. The Guardians all ducked down trying to avoid the flames.

"Peter!" Gamora shouted over the crackling and burning. "We need to help Courtney and Harmony out of here! They're too weak to move on their own!" Peter nodded and wen to move but was singed by a wisp of fire.

"I can't get to them!" He shouted back to Gamora. The fire was too bright, the burning too loud, the heat too intense. He would be roasted alive before even making it to them. All of a sudden a triumphant yell sounded from the middle of the flames. Drax came barreling out of the fire, Harmony and Courtney draped over his arms. "Go Drax!" Peter cheered. The warrior's skin was seared red from the fire but Drax didn't seem to notice as he bolted through the doorway and into the halls of Nova Headquarters. Rocket followed him out with Groot and soon emergency sprinklers had been rerouted from their main points of attack to the dungeon. Peter and Gamora crawled from their hiding spots, soaked but uninjured.

The dungeon was destroyed, everything was melted or burned to a crisp. Sirens in the distance alerted Peter to the Novacore closing in on the situation. That didn't matter now, nothing except for one thing mattered. In the roof was a hole that had been burned through the brick and metal, a hole large enough for a flying elemental to get out of. The raging fires hadn't been meant to kill them, if Alexi wanted them dead she would have finished the job. No, the flames were a distraction from her real mission, escape.

Alexi was gone, and this time she had anger in her heart and revenge pouring through her veins.

* * *

 **A/N: So sorry for the long wait for an update but I didn't feel like breaking this up in to multiple parts even though I could've. I also didn't expect this chapter to be so long but I realized that I had nothing leading up to Alexi's big break so I needed to increase the chapter length. If you're really upset by the long wait then just realize that this chapter was 6,159 words! That's not counting the author's note here. So I hope you enjoyed the chapter, this book is coming to a close soon which is sad! I'm going to incorporate Vol 2 into Book 3 so don't worry! Also it's official, Alexi has joined the dark side! That was my plan for her from the straight and I think I executed it perfectly! Anyway, thanks for being patient for this update, and I hope you're excited for the next one!**


	9. Induction

**Induction**

"My name is Inferno, I am a Terran girl with the ability to control fire. I left my friends, Tsunami and Tornado, to join Hijinx in his goal to destroy Thanos and the universe." Alexi stood in the middle of the lab in her fire sprite form, her left hand over her heart and her right hand raised. She was pledging her alliance to Hijinx in front of everybody at the lab. This included Cosma, who had decided to join Hijinx after meeting Alexi.

The cosmic element had refused to be fused and instead the Terran girl meant for the fusion had been left in space to die. Instead Cosma joined them as a normal element, claiming it was because "If someone with as much power as Inferno will join, then so will I." Hijinx had examined Alexi to find that in her brain her fire powers had mixed with parts of her brain that a fusion of her powers would have prevented. This caused her to become more resistant to water and to control her flames using any emotion she wanted.

"I swear my undying loyalty to Hijinx and this lab, and I will fight to the end of my days for his cause." Alexi finished the oath and the scientists clapped politely as Inferno was officially made a warrior of Hijinx.

Hijinx stepped on the podium and approached her. "So glad you joined us Inferno." He cocked his head. "Or do you prefer Alexi?"

The fire elemental shook her head. "My name is and always will be Inferno. I refuse to acknowledge my past name, as it is only a reminder of my past life which no longer exists."

Hijinx grinned from ear to ear as he led the newly inducted Inferno down to the other elementals. "These are your teammates Inferno. Titanium." He pointed at Titanium who stood proudly in her metallic spikes and metal mask over her eye. "Earthquake." Earthquake smiled politely and her vines curled around her more, her eyes hidden by her wooden mask. "Electric Storm." The electricity element glared at Inferno, her gold mask flashing as her hair fizzed with power. "And finally, Cosma." Cosma nodded her head toward Inferno and her black eyes bore into Inferno's yellow ones.

Titanium stepped forward and handed Inferno a plastic mask. It was in the shape of a flaming sun that was meant to encircle her whole eye. When Inferno put it on it burst into flames, lighting the area around her left eye in a fiery sun. As with Titanium's metallic mask it only covered her eye and was meant to put fear in someone, not hide her features like Earthquake's and Electrical Storm's masks.

"Welcome to the team Inferno." Titanium greeted.

"Yes welcome." Nebula said as she pushed through the other elementals. She smiled a forced smile at Inferno. "I do hope you and I can move past our previous meetings to be friends." Nebula finished her obviously rehearsed speech and plastered a fake smile on her face.

Inferno smirked. "I hope the same Nebula." Inferno then joined the other elementals as both her and Cosma were led to their rooms. Hijinx and Nebula watched as the group disappeared into one of the portals which would take them to the only lower level on the lab. This level was where the elementals lived. It was also the only floor that had any privacy since it was underground.

"I don't trust her." Nebula said to Hijinx once all the elementals were gone. "There's no way she just up and left the Novacore, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and her friends to join us. I just don't see it. Especially not with a hero." She paused. "Unless."

"Unless what?" Hijinx asked.

"Unless she's always been evil."

* * *

"So this will be your room Inferno. You will share with Earthquake." Titanium pushed on a panel of metal in the wall and a door slid open to reveal a large room set up for two. The whole underground of the lab was carved out of dirt and covered with metal. The ceiling was nothing but panels of florescent lighting. There were no visible doors, Inferno guessed that they were all disguised to protect the elementals.

Inferno walked into her new room. One side of the room was overrun with vines, dirt, leaves, and the occasional tree. It was like a jungle had exploded in the corner! "Pardon the mess, I have yet to prune it." Earthquake said as the door slid shut. From inside the room you could clearly tell where the door was.

"Is any of this flame proof, or am I going to end up burning this down by tomorrow?" Inferno asked. Earthquake laughed a low laugh.

"Don't worry, my upgrades make me non-flamable. That includes my forest over here." She motioned to her overgrown side of the room. "You can customize your side too ya know."

Inferno looked at her side. It was just a bed and a dresser with a mirror. Inside the dresser drawers were training uniforms with a fire symbol on the pocket, and a few different outfits that had to do with fire. Inferno pulled out one of them. It was a shirt that hung off one shoulder dyed yellow, orange, and red. It only came down to Inferno's top rib. Then there were leggings with swirls of red over a light orange background.

"Hijinx and the scientists have provided all the elementals with training suits and normal clothing matching our element for our convenience." Earthquake explained. Inferno nodded and dropped the outfit back into the drawer.

"The only way I could think to customize this place would be to set a few things on fire." Inferno joked.

Earthquake smiled. "I'm sure you can think of something more creative than that."

"I see you got _really_ creative with your half." Inferno retorted.

"Touche."

Inferno smiled. She was really going to enjoy it here with the elementals.


	10. The Start Of War

**The Start Of War**

Courtney and Harmony were progressing nicely in the Infirmary, but Peter was not looking forward to being the one to tell them that Alexi was gone. Since the girls were up and functioning now, it was time to drop the bomb.

"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Peter asked as he entered their room.

Harmony held up her arm to indicate the IV pumping drugs through her veins. "How do you think I'm doing Quill?" She asked.

"Look, I know things aren't exactly going as planned right now, but-"

"Where's Alexi?" Courtney interrupted Peter. She was staring intently at him, her blue eyes boring into his brown ones. "Is she in even more trouble now?"

Harmony sat up straighter. "It wasn't her fault what happened, we pushed her too hard! We got a little carried away and she snapped, blame us not her!"

Peter motioned with his hands for them both to calm down. "Now I don't have the best news regarding Alexi. She is in quite a bit of trouble for damages and attempting to harm you two." Peter paused to think about how he wanted to phrase his next statement. _You best friend has vanished without a trace and it's the highest possibility that she joined Hijinx,_ seemed a little bit too much information to take in. On the other hand, _Alexi's gone and she's super pissed at Xandar and super powerful,_ was more or less saying she had threatened them when she hadn't, had she? On the other other hand, _Alexi disappeared and she's super powerful and could be turning evil,_ was easier to take in but at the same time not, get it?

"Quill!" Harmony shouted. Peter snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked at the two elementals. Both Courtney and Harmony looked scared to death about his next words and he honestly couldn't blame them. "Where is Alexi?" Harmony asked slowly.

 _Just tell them the truth._ Peter's conscience spoke. He would, he would just say that Alexi was gone and upset, that's all he had to say. "She's not available at the moment." Peter said with confidence. _No you stupid idiot!_ His conscience screamed at him.

"What do you mean?" Courtney asked, her voice sounding small and frail. "Is she locked up somewhere or is she hurt? Is she, is she d-, is she dead?" Tears sprung into Courtney's eyes as she stuttered out the last part. Peter shook his head even though he had no idea where Alexi was or if she was still alive. He hadn't even considered how Alexi would get to wherever Hijinx was. Maybe Courtney was right, maybe Alexi hadn't tried to find Hijinx. Maybe her goal had been suicide.

"I don't know anything about Alexi." Peter answered truthfully. "She's not with the Novacore currently." His heart sped up as he tried to force the truth out. "Alexi disappeared, without a trace, and we have no clue where she is or if she's okay."

Courtney was the first one to start crying. "This is all our fault!" She sobbed. "Harmony and I were too harsh, we never considered her or her feelings. We just accused her of being a traitor and now she could be dead!"

Harmony reached over and put her hand on Courtney's forearm. "We will find her Court." Harmony said as her voice shook. "Alexi's smart, she knows how to get by on her own."

"Yeah on Earth!" Courtney shouted as more tears rolled down her face. "We're in space! She'll be dead within days, and that's if she's not dead already!"

Harmony squeezed Courtney's arm. "Don't talk like that. You and I both know that Alexi would never do anything stupid. She's a planner, not impulsive. If she does anything it's planned out and perfectly executed."

"That was before we became elementals." Courtney pointed out in between sobs. "Recently she hasn't thought anything through, she would just act on whatever impulse she had!" Courtney looked at Harmony. "Don't tell me that you haven't noticed her change as well." Harmony silently nodded her head.

Peter was calmly backing out of the room to let the two of them deal with this on their own when Nova Prime opened the door and pushed Peter back into the room. "Ow." Peter mumbled as both Nova Prime and Denarian Dey walked by him towards Courtney and Harmony.

"Girls, I'm glad to hear that you're doing better." Nova Prime said professionally. Courtney had stopped crying but her face was stained with tears while Harmony was wiping lone drops from her eyes. "I guess you've heard the news about Alexi." Nova Prime said, her professionalism dropping. They both nodded.

"We actually have some news on her." Dey spoke up. He walked around Nova Prime to show the girls a hologram of a security video. In the video there was a Xandarian spaceship launch about to start. Xandarians who needed to travel elsewhere in the universe were boarding. All of a sudden the video froze and zoomed in on a small figure climbing aboard a ship set for the star system Godsyi. The figure was dressed in a black jumpsuit and was glancing around warily. The only distinguishing feature was the person's humanoid figure and bright red hair.

"That's Alexi!" Courtney shouted. Dey nodded and the video resumed. Alexi got on the ship and the video sped up to show the ship taking off before cutting out.

Dey put the hologram away. "That was taken the day Alexi left Nova Headquarters. Nearby a clothing store was broken into and a black flameproof jumpsuit was stolen. Then Alexi boarded the ship." Dey then pulled up a map of nearby star systems. He zoomed in on one that was near the outskirts of Nova territory. "This is Godsyi, it's a star system nearly outside our boundaries. There's a cluster of 7 planets around it but only 3 are habitable. Out of those 3 only 1 is within our boundaries. The other two are in Kree territory, but Kree don't patrol right along their borders all the time especially with the conflicts they're having currently with trading between them and the Skrull. So those two planets are under next to no supervision." Dey pointed at one. "This planet is known as Kortava. It is the fifth planet from the star system. We believe that this planet is where Hjinx is located. Alexi traveled there because the ship that she was on was hijacked after its landing on Recor, the third planet from the system and the only habitable one within our boundaries. The ship's GPS was disassembled, but on the security tape on Recor Alexi never got off, so we know it's her."

Courtney and Harmony stared at the picture of Kortava in shock. "So that's where Hijinx is." Harmony whispered.

"That's where Alexi is." Courtney replied. She looked up. "We need to go get her before she does anything stupid!"

Nova Prime shook her head. "We can't do that. Kortava is out of our boundaries. We would be violating our tense peace treaty with the Kree if we crossed the border. Just the fact that Alexi used a Xandarian ship to get across puts all of us at risk of Kree retaliation. Us crossing to get her could lead to conflict which would immediately draw the Kree's attention. Right now our best course of action is to just sit tight and wait to see if she comes back or if we can convince the Kree to let us over to get her."

Peter nodded. "i agree with Nova Prime. If we cross over too much the Kree will eventually notice. Believe me, they do not take unwanted visitors nicely." He shook his head. Both girls looked heartbroken to know that getting Alexi back was not an option at this point.

"There has to be something we can do though!" Courtney cried. Tears were starting to flow down her face again. "We can't just leave Alexi to join Hijinx!" She turned to Nova Prime. "What if she's been brainwashed or something? Like mind control? What if she's in trouble and is being held hostage?"

"Without information to confirm it we can't think anything." Nova Prime said sadly. "I know how much you want Alexi to still be good and to still be working with us, but you need to face the facts. She's joined Hjinx and his team, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Courtney shook her head violently as sobs came harder out of her. "No!" She shouted. "Alexi can't just up and leave us! She wouldn't!" Harmony grabbed Courtney and shook her slightly.

"Get a hold of yourself Courtney. Freaking out isn't going to do any good at this point." Harmony said calmly. Courtney took deep heavy breaths but it wasn't working. Suddenly her whole body started to convulse and Harmony jumped backwards.

"Courtney!" Harmony shouted as Peter held her back. Dey and Nova Prime called for a doctor as Courtney's eyes rolled in her head and foam started forming on her lips. Her arms and legs were flailing wildly and her torso was shaking and thrashing. Muffled cries came from her mouth but then turned to gurgles as more foam formed.

The doctor came rushing in. "She's having a seizure." He grabbed a needle full of fluid to give Courtney a shot.

Another doctor ran in. "Wait, don't give her that!" He yelled.

"Why not?" Harmony asked as the other doctor froze. "If Courtney doesn't get that medication this seizure could kill her! Her immune system isn't built to withstand stuff like this!"

"If we give her the medication the chemicals inside could attack her immune system since she's not Xandarian." The doctor with the needle explained. He set it down and stepped away from Courtney's convulsing form. "This could be a fatal shot."

Peter held Harmony tighter as she tried to lunge for the needle. "Don't Harmony." He whispered. "Courtney needs to ride this one out."

"You don't understand." Harmony said as her eyes filled with tears. "I can't lose both of my best friends." She looked at Peter. "They're my only family."

"I understand Harmony, believe me." Peter said back as he tried to keep her attention away from Courtney's convulsions. "But right now, Courtney doesn't have a better option."

Courtney's seizure lasted at least 2 minutes with slight pauses in between spazzes. Afterwards her body slowly calmed down and soon she was still again. Monitors were hooked up to her body and oxygen was being pumped into her lungs. Medication flowed into her muscles and joints to strengthen them after the horrendous shaking. Harmony just stared as her only other friend was hooked up to every machine available to prepare for the worst. Courtney still hadn't regained consciousness.

Peter stayed in the room with Harmony and Courtney all night. He fell asleep on the chair in the corner, lulled off by the steady beeping of the heart monitor. Gamora shook him awake what felt like 3 minutes later but could've been 3 hours.

"Peter, you need to leave. They'll be fine." Gamora coaxed him.

He yawned. "I'm fine G, I'm fine." Peter slowly closed his eyes and nodded off which prompted Gamora to throw him out of the chair. "Ow!" Peter shouted.

"Shh!" She hissed. "Don't wake Courtney and Harmony." Peter rolled his eyes at her as he pulled himself off the floor and followed Gamora out to the hallway.

"I'm worried about them both Gamora." He said once they were out of the room. "Courtney hasn't improved at all and Harmony's going downhill mentally. Do you really think they're fit to fight the other elementals? Much less save the universe?"

Gamora put her hand on Peter's shoulder. "Peter, they are both warriors. They'll get through this just like they got through everything else that's been thrown at them. Just like the Guardians have gotten through everything life has thrown at us. We stayed together and fought as a family, and they will too." Gamora glanced back through the doorway to the girls who were both resting. "We just need to believe in them a little more. That was our problem with Alexi. She didn't think anyone believed in her."

"Well not that many people did." Peter interrupted. "She kept proving that all she could do was be destructive so people stopped believing that she could change." Gamora nodded.

"We all screwed up with Alexi." She looked Peter in the eyes, hers were filled with determination. "We can't let Courtney and Harmony down anymore than we already have. Understand?"

Peter nodded. "Of course." The two held each others gazes for a few more seconds, their closeness filling the silence around them with a comfortable calm. Just as Peter realized that now would be the perfect time to kiss Gamora a loud siren sounded. The two jumped apart at the noise and looked around to see what was going on.

"Courtney." Gamora said suddenly. Inside the room Courtney's heart monitor had stopped beeping its rhythmic beeping. Instead a long drawn out sound filled the room and the line on the screen was flat and dead. It was a scene Peter knew too well. Courtney's heart had stopped.

"No, no, no, no!" Harmony screamed as she woke up. Peter and Gamora rushed in and grabbed Harmony as she lunged for Courtney. "No! She can't die!" Harmony wailed.

"Let the doctors save her." Gamora whispered to Harmony as a group of doctors and nurses rushed in to save Courtney. Rocket, Drax, Groot, Dey, and Nova Prime all appeared in the doorway to watch.

The doctors started doing CPR on Courtney, trying to get her to breath. Once the defibrillator was ready they applied it to Courtney's chest. Nothing happened. "Again!" Someone shouted. Again they shocked her but still nothing happened. Her heart monitor was still flat and her body still limp. "Again!" The third try a small beep was heard as her heart weakly started up again. A new oxygen mask was put over her mouth for breath and a tray of tools were brought over. "We need to keep her heart going. Her body can't do it on its own." Someone said. Everything was a whirl as Peter watched them slit Courtney's chest open and put wires and machines inside to keep her alive. Harmony had gone silent but tears were flowing down her face like a waterfall.

"Please don't let her die." Harmony whispered to no one in particular. Peter hugged Harmony closer as she started sobbing harder. After a few tense moments of impromptu surgery the doctors stepped away from Courtney. Her heart was working with the help of machines and air was being pumped into her lungs from an oxygen tank. Courtney was officially in a coma.

"Normally I'd say she'll be fine soon," The doctor said to Nova Prime. "But with her brain cancer the odds of her waking up are greatly decreased. I think the only way she'll make it out of this is if we cure her."

Peter stood up. "Then lets cure her!" He said enthusiastically. "Earth has been doing cancer research since when I was young. They must have made progress by now!"

Nova Prime shook her head. "You know we can't just show up on Terra asking for medicine. Plus, if Terrans had a way to cure cancer do you really think Courtney would still have it?" Peter paused as he realized Nova Prime had a point.

"I think I have an idea." Gamora spoke up. Everyone turned to her. "The Sovereign. They're a species full of strict rules and genetically perfect creatures. They live in isolation and their beliefs are that the lives of their own will never be put to harm. They hold intergalactic batteries capable of powering an Infinity Gauntlet. Not to mention they are expert pilots and doctors. If anyone would know how to cure Courtney it's them."

Dey stared at Gamora in disbelief. "You want us to be endowed to the Sovereign? They are nutjobs who think that terrorism is okay as long as it's not their people on the front lines!" He looked at Peter. "They'll never give you what you want until you give them something crazy in return."

Harmony looked up at Peter. "Please Quill. Please don't let Courtney die."

Peter and Gamora shared a look of agreement with each other and nodded. Peter faced Nova Prime and Dey. "Well we're the Guardians of the Galaxy. Crazy is what we do."

Nova Prime sighed. "Fine Guardians. I'll give you one shot to do this. Don't screw up, and don't let us down."

"Thank you Nova Prime." Gamora said. She turned to Groot, Drax, and Rocket. "Are you three going to help us?"

"I'd be honored to." Drax stated.

"It's not like I have anything better to do." Rocket shrugged.

"I am Groot!" Groot exclaimed from Rocket's shoulder.

"I'm in too." Harmony said. "I'm healthy enough to leave, and I'm going to help Courtney." Harmony turned to her friend's sleeping form. "I'll save you Courtney. I promise."

"We leave for the Sovereign tomorrow morning." Peter said. He turned to Harmony. "Rest up." She nodded and the Guardians, Dey, and Nova Prime left the Infirmary.

"Time to suit up everyone." Rocket called. "I have a feeling we're in for an adventure."

* * *

 **That's it everybody! End of Book 2! I can't believe we finally made it this far, it's insane. Anyway, I'll have a preview of Book 3 soon. It will incorporate Vol 2 in. As you just read the Sovereign are involved and so will Ego, Mantis, and the Ravagers! So stay tuned for Elemental Girls Book 3 - Life Of Tsunami**


	11. Book 3 Preview

**Book 3 Preview**

"I really thought this was a good idea."

"Yeah well now we know not to listen to you when you say you have a 'really good idea'."

"Be quiet or else they'll find us!" Nebula snapped at Titanium and Electric Storm. The two elementals had not stopped arguing the whole trip to Terra. Not for a second. Now Nebula was stuck crawling in the sewers underneath a Terran museum at night with them waiting for Earthquake and Inferno to disable the alarms. The trio had been waiting for almost 5 minutes and already Nebula had restrained herself from snapping necks.

"I'm just saying," Titanium continued. "I truly thought that their scanners wouldn't find us under here."

"Yeah well next time check to make sure there aren't any camera blind spots we could wait in before you shove us under here to be cramped for an hour!" Electric Storm glared at Titanium.

"It's not going to take Inferno and Earthquake an hour to get us inside." Titanium countered. "They're faster then that."

Nebula scoffed. "Not if they get caught."

Titanium glared at her. "They won't get caught. Those two are great sneaks. Plus Inferno can turn human since she isn't fused. That's an extra disguise built right in!"

"I still think Hijinx is being unfair by not fusing her." Electric Storm huffed. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted like a little kid. "What is this, Favor The Elemental That Ran Away Day?"

"Technically Inferno never ran, it was the fire sprite." Nebula corrected. "Inferno is the one who came back." She turned to Electric Storm. "Hijinx does not want to fuse Inferno because he wants to study her powers more. If her brain chemicals helped her bypass her weakness and increase her control, then just imagine how he could do that to the rest of you."

"We'd be invincible." Titanium whispered.

"Yeah well invincibility doesn't make up for stupidity." Electric Storm murmured.

Titanium growled at Electric Storm. "I'm not stupid!"

"You are so stupid I bet cavemen had better IQ's!"

"Yeah well dinosaurs have more common sense then you!"

"My common sense is better than half the people in the lab so check your facts scrapyard."

"Scrapyard! How dare you, you walking lightning rod!"

"I control and create electricity. Lightning rods don't do that."

"You are so infuriating!"

"You're the one getting mad. Not my fault scrap has a short temper."

Nebula whirled on them both. "Oh will you just SHUT UP!" Both elementals froze mid fight and stared at Nebula as she struggled to contain her rage. _Deep breaths, deep breaths._ Nebula reminded herself as the red in her vision slowly faded.

"Sorry." Both girls apologized. Nebula gave them a warning glance before turning away and reveling in the silence. None of them spoke for a long time as they patiently waited for some sort of sign that Inferno and earthquake had successfully taken down the security. The sounds of the night filled their ears and a cool breeze swept by them and through the tunnel. Nothing stirred inside or outside. The world seemed to have paused.

Suddenly a flicker of warmth burst through the tunnel. Nebula glanced up as her sensors detected the temperature change. "What was that?" She asked. Neither Titanium nor Electric Storm had noticed. Then it came again, but this time it was longer and the orange of the flame lit up the steel walls. "That's the signal." Nebula jumped up and tore off towards the flame. Electric Storm and Titanium were right behind her.

Nebula stopped underneath an opening in the roof. There, perched on the opening, was Inferno. Her flames danced around her like servants performing to a goddess. Inferno cocked her head in a motion for Nebula and the others to come out. Electric Storm pushed ahead of Nebula and grabbed the grimy ladder on the wall to hoist herself through the opening.

Something seemed off though. Inferno was wringing her hands around in a circle and tapping her foot against the ground rhythmically. The fire element was never this jittery. Nebula watched closer and noticed how Inferno's eyes kept glancing to the other side of the hole in quick rapid looks. Almost like she was watching something or someone that was trying to hide. Nebula put her hand on the ceiling and used her sensors to scan for heat sources.

"Electric Storm wait." Nebula called. She could feel them standing there, waiting for them. Their heat signatures weren't elemental. They were Terran. Terrans were up there waiting for them. "It's a trap." Nebula whispered.

Inferno looked at Nebula suddenly. "That's impossible! Do you really think I'd lure you into a trap? You should know by now how loyal I am! I've never changed sides in my life, doesn't that atone for some credibility?" Inferno locked eyes on Nebula harshly.

Nebula understood. Inferno was trying to tell them that something had gone wrong. The Terrans were onto them and somehow her and Earthquake had gotten caught. Inferno was pretty smart to figure out a semblance of a code to inform them. Electric Storm didn't seem to be getting it.

"Stop being paranoid Nebula." She continued going up the ladder.

Inferno bent down closer to Electric Storm. "We need to always trust each other."

Electric Storm rolled her eyes and pushed Inferno out of the way to climb up through the hole. "I don't see what you guys are so concerned about. There's nothing up-" Electric Storm's words turned into a scream as the sound of gunfire started. The elementals body dropped onto the soil and Inferno ducked down. Nebula grabbed Titanium and they both took off running back down the tunnel.

"What's going on?" Titanium shouted as the sound of fire and electricity sounded from up above.

Nebula forced herself not to look back as she heard Inferno's cry of pan. "We're being attacked." She answered and the two kept running until the sound of fighting died behind them. They stopped to catch their breath and it was only then that Nebula realized they were out of light and lost.

"Where are we?" Titanium asked. It was so dark Nebula couldn't even see her.

"I'm not sure." Nebula replied. She reached out to feel the cold walls and tried to find some sort of pulse that could lead them above ground. All she could feel was water that was dripping down from the ceiling. Nebula sighed. It was useless. She had no way of finding how to get back up to the surface. "We're lost." She told Titanium. The two just stood in the dark silence for a few minutes. Both unsure what to do next and unable to contact anyone.

"I really did think this was a good idea."

* * *

 **So here it is! The preview for Elemental Girls Book 3 - Life of Tsunami! I hope you guys enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to Book 3! I'll have it up before Thanksgiving but I'm not exactly sure when. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Also, check out mu profile to find a complete list of all the books in the series. Thanks!**


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